Settlers Begin Enlarging Illegal Colonies
Palestine Media Center
8 May, 2003In contravention with the newly launched, internationally-endorsed “roadmap” to peace, Israeli settlers on Wednesday laid the cornerstone of a new Jewish settlement project in the occupied West Bank at the illegal Beit El settlement, near Ramallah.
The new settlement project comes as Israelis commemorated Independence Day, and with it Palestinians marked the Catastrophe (Nakba) of the expulsion and dispossession of thousands of Palestinians by Zionist paramilitaries in 1948.
“On Israel’s Independence Day we officially laid the first stone of a new district which will be called Ginot Beit El,” David Shawat from the so-called “Beit El council” told AFP.
This new project, deemed illegal under international law, comes only a few days after the official launching of the “roadmap” to ending the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which specifically calls for a halt of illegal Jewish settlement building in the occupied Palestinian territory.
The project being described by the settlers as a “new quarter” of the illegal settlement, will include some 72 housing units.
There are however upcoming plans to start another project, comprising some 40 housing units, in 2-3 weeks, Shawat said.
"The construction of another district of Beit El with 40 extra dwellings will be launched from here in two or three weeks," he said.
The settlers claimed that the project had started out just after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, a champion of the settlement movement in the occupied territory, claimed Israel might dismantle some West Bank settlements, including Beit El and Shilo, as part of the new peace plan.
The new plans come just two weeks after Israel’s right-wing parliamentary speaker Reuven Rivlin laid the first stone in a project to build more houses in the illegal West Bank settlement of Shilo.
40% of the West Bank is already peppered with illegal Israeli settlements, housing some 200,000 settlers.
Foreigners, Israelis, Palestinians Attacked by Settlers
Meanwhile on Wednesday, armed settlers beat a group of foreigners and Israelis, who had come to aid Palestinian farmers plow their land in the West Bank village of Sawiya.
Twenty armed settlers and a German shepherd from the illegal settlement of Eli assaulted the group-- comprising 2 internationals and 5 Israelis-- who had gone to the village to protect Palestinian farmers from repeated settler attacks.
According to the group, the settlers threw stones on one Palestinian farmer, whose shoulder was dislocated. Several settlers and a large dog attacked a South African woman, going by the name of Anna, while her purse and camera were snatched.
Another International, Ayesha, fell and injured her ankle while being chased down a rocky hillside by the settlers. Keren, Raz, Ariel, and Ilan, all Israelis, were beaten with sticks. One French journalist named Frederique was beaten and his camera stolen. Other thefts included a donkey, a horse, and plowing equipment.
The group said an Israeli occupation soldier witnessed the attacks but did nothing to stop the rampaging settlers.
Only later did more occupation soldiers arrive to the scene and ask the group to leave their land, which is almost 300 meters from the illegal settlement of Eli.
The settlers “seemed to appear from nowhere,” according to Anna, and began running at the groups screaming and shouting “Nazis, Nazis!”
“This attack was an attack against peace,” said Anna. “We were working together to plow the fields, side by side with Israelis and Palestinians. It’s obvious that the illegal settlers want to destroy peace between people and terrorize them in order to get them to leave their land. We were simply enjoying the beautiful day in this pastoral landscape, and were suddenly surrounded by violence and being attacked.”
“Despite the risks, the land must be plowed so that the farmers can feed their families,” Anna stressed.