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Photo:
Map of al-Makhrour. Screenshot. Published by IMEMC News
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by IMEMC News
Aug 17, 2024

The far-right Israeli government under Benjamin Netanyahu and his fanatic colonial settlers’ coalition partners, has officially published plans to establish a new illegal Israeli colony in the Al-Makhrour Mountain, officially registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, near Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank.

The decision was made after the Israeli government vowed to “legalize” five illegal colonies back in June.

The Israeli government said its decision was made in response to European countries that recently recognized an independent Palestinian state.

Nida Ibrahim of Al-Jazeera English interviewed Alice Kisiya who took her to her childhood home in the Al-Makhrour Valley where Israeli colonizers illegally occupied the family’s land and forced them out.

Alice added that even after the family filed appeals with an Israeli court and even after proving their ownership of the land, the court issued a restraining order barring the family from entering their lands, instead of removing the illegal colonizers who stole it.

Alice said: Alice said: “We are a simple family against the state,” and added that she misses the calmness of the valley and will keep fighting until she gets it back.”

Last Wednesday, the Israeli government approved a new illegal colony, named Nahal Heletz, linking colonies in the West Bank, with colonies in occupied East Jerusalem.

The colony is one of five illegal colonialist outposts Israel’s fanatic far-right colonialist minister, Bezalel Smotrich, “promised to legalize” back in June.

Jad Ishaq of the Applied Research Institute – Arij, told Al-Jazeera that the move is part of the Israeli plan to create “metropolitan Jerusalem” by increasing the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem and adding four major colonialist blocs.

It is worth mentioning that the area, lush with water resources, plants, greeneries, and Scenic heights was officially registered by the Palestinians as a World Heritage Site with UNESCO.

All of Israel’s colonies in the occupied West Bank, including those in and around occupied East Jerusalem, are illegal under International Law, the Fourth Geneva Convention in addition to various United Nations and Security Council resolutions. They also constitute war crimes under International Law.

Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states: “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” It also prohibits the “individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory.”