Bethlehem /PNN/
Madeeha Al-A’raj The National Bureau for defending land and resisting settlements ( nbprs ) stated in its latest weekly report, that a destructive activity derived from the irrational justification of myths and legends by American evangelists who are Christian Zionists, who believe that Israel is a manifestation of biblical prophecy and that Jews should
be supported to return to what they call their promised land, do support the settlers to absorb more Jews in Palestine, especially in the occupied West Bank. Knowing that the occupying power welcomes this destructive role played by them, although in essence, it involves “hidden anti-Semitism” expressed by former US President Trump, whose administration turned a blind eye to the funding of US organizations for illegal settlement activities in the Palestinian territories occupied in June 1967 aggression. Within the context, an organization founded by them calling it “Heuvel”, launched a campaign to raise funds to plant 3,000 trees in the mountains and hills of the occupied West Bank, as part of a project entitled “Make –Israel - Green.” The organization recently sent messages to its supporters saying its current goal is to raise funds to plant 3,000 trees by the end of this year. This comes after the organization planted a forest in the area of the “Har Bracha” settlement, south of the city of Nablus. Heuvel also announced that it will plant 20,000 trees annually in an area of 1,000 dunams across the West Bank “all over the central mountain range in different areas of the West Bank.” Heuvel is registered in the United States as a non-profit association and receives donations for settlement projects in the West Bank as tax-exempt. According to the documents submitted by it to the US tax authorities, it defines itself as an organization that “provides services and assistance to farmers in Israel,” knowing that it has supported the idea of recruiting evangelical volunteers to work in the settlement vineyards.
The targeted forest is located on the lands of Burin village, south of Nablus, owned by Palestinian farmers from the village. An expert on settlements, Dror Atkes said that “in the 20 years that I have worked in the West Bank, I have encountered an endless number of cases in which Jews have stolen lands from Palestinians, but I have not yet encountered a case in which American evangelicals steal Palestinian lands,” based in his statements on Pictures taken from the air and information obtained by the “Kerem Nevot” organization he heads.
Aerial images showed that the Palestinians cultivated this area without stopping until 2000, as they were prevented from doing so by the settlers of “Har Bracha” and the Israeli army. Worth noting that 10% of the maximum area of the aforementioned forest is “state land”, confiscated by the occupation from the Palestinians, and the rest is privately owned land belonging to Palestinians. In the past 15 years, Heuvel has brought thousands of evangelical volunteers, mainly from the United States, to the settlements. This organization also established a compound in the settlement of “Har Bracha”, where volunteers live.
On the other hand, during the past 6 months, the occupation authorities are settling dozens of Ukrainian Jewish families, who fled the war in Ukraine in West Bank settlements. This was quoted as saying by the head of the “Gush Etzion” settlement council in the southern West Bank, Shlomo Naaman, who said, more than 50 Ukrainian Jewish families were settled in the Gush Etzion settlements,” where a reception center office was established in the settlements, dozens of apartments were rented, and people were received directly from the airport.
As for Masafer Yatta facilities, the occupation authorities insisted on demolishing them following the occupation court’s decision that rejected the petition submitted by the people of Jamba, Markaz, Halawa, Fakhit, Tabban, Majaz, Maghair al-Ubaid, Safi al-Fawqa, al-Tahta, al-Tuba, Khallet al-Dabaa, and al-Mafqara against the demolishing of 2 schools, 32 homes and facilities, and completely close the traveler area, and announce more than 30,000 dunams of its lands are closed areas, and it carries out a new process of ethnic cleansing in the Red Valley area in the northern Jordan Valley. Where the so-called ‘Civil Administration’ backed by force from the occupation army, stormed the area north of Fasayel in the central Jordan Valley, expelled Palestinian families from it hours after the demolition of their tents, and forced them to leave their homes at gunpoint.
For its part, the Israeli Ministry of Education has demanded the Tel Aviv municipality remove maps that were put on nearly 2,000 classrooms in the city’s schools, because of the “green line” on them, and called for the use of only official maps in which the “green line” does not appear. This means that Israel officially considers its borders to be the borders of all of historic Palestine, as the “green line” separates Israel from the territories occupied in 1967 - the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip as well as Golan Heights.
Director-General of the Ministry of Education, Dalit Stauber, had sent a letter to the Director of the Education Directorate in the Tel Aviv Municipality, claiming that the suspension of the map is directed towards a specific political position or advances a ‘political agenda’, and this is a matter that contradicts the principles of education.
