More Synagogues & Religious Schools in Israeli Settlements to enhance their Status

By: Madeeha Araj
The National Bureau for defending land and resisting settlements ( nbprs ) stated in its latest weekly report , that within its continued efforts to strengthen settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories - OPT including Jerusalem, the Occupation Government and Settlement Councils intend to establish synagogues for Jews in many settlements and outposts, putting them within the government’s ‘national priorities plan’, where -$- 6.25 million will be distributed to 30 settlements and outposts, under the pretext that there is a shortage of synagogues for holding Jewish religious rituals, and that the current year’s budget will allocate part of the settlement budgets to complete the construction of temples whose aim is to impart sanctity and a false religious dimension to the land and place through religious settlement, which is more dangerous than any other settlement.

Granting more privileges to the settlements means strengthening them but in return restricting the Palestinian presence, especially in Area C. Moreover, the occupation government decides to support the establishment of Jewish synagogues in the occupied West Bank settlements, and places them within the government s ‘national priorities plan’ with all the consequences that raises the risk to higher levels. Within the context, the Minister of Religious Affairs in the Israeli government, Matan Kahane of the Yamina party, headed by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, drafted the project and signed new standards for state support for the establishment of synagogues, and these standards give a great advantage to those that will be built outside the Green Line i.e. the occupied West Bank.

According to the decision, NIS 20 million will be distributed to 30 settlements, alleging that there is a shortage of buildings designated for holding Jewish religious rituals. Knowing that this support is provided every year, but for the first time priority is given to settlements and outposts described as "security sensitive", with the aim of -dir-ecting more funds to the settlements. These synagogues and temples come in order to legitimize them and strengthen the settlement blocs, especially near the 1948 lands, under the pretext of the lack of places to hold Jewish rituals, and -convert-ing them with time into religious schools, and here evacuating them become difficult.

The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights-B Tselem, and Kerem Nabot revealed that 42% increase in the number of settlers in the occupied West Bank - excluding East Jerusalem than the year 2010. This significant increase came due to the concessions granted by the occupying power to the residents of the settlements, whose number exceeded 450,000 without Jerusalem and its surroundings. As for the Nablus governorate, the occupation forces razed about 30 dunums of lands from the Qasra, Joresh, and Aqraba towns, in an area called Kafr Attia in order to establish a new settlement outpost.

In Jerusalem, settlers continued their celebrations their holidays, especially in the Old City and its surroundings, under the protection of the Israeli police. Moreover, settler gangs and activists of the “temple” groups escalated targeting the Al-Aqsa Mosque, by performing public Talmudic prayers, and attempts to introduce palm fronds for the so-called Throne Day under their clothes, which is an unprecedented measure in targeting the blessed mosque. The Zionist incursions started from the Moroccan Gate, under heavy guarded by the occupation forces, during which the settlers carried out provocative tours, and stationed in the vicinity of the Bab-Rahma building and chapel on the eastern side of the mosque, and they performed Talmudic prayers and rituals, including the so-called “epic prostration,” and they received explanations about the myth of the alleged temple, and another around the Hebrew “umbrella” holiday. Settlers set up wooden rooms in some alleys of the Old City of Jerusalem to celebrate the “Feast of the Throne,” which caused confrontations with the Jerusalemites, especially in the Jabsha Neighborhood and Aqabat Al-Saraya.

List of Israeli Assaults over the Last Week Documented by the National Bureau
Jerusalem:
- Stabbing a Palestinian bus driver, Mohammed Abu Nab, 42, in the back in the western Jerusalem.
- Attempting to kill the Palestinian driver Samir Mujahid, from the Silwan town.
- Handing the citizen Nidal Al-Rajbi, from Silwan, south of Al-Aqsa Mosque, a demolition notice of his house within 21 days,´-or-he will be paying high fees. It should be mentioned that the Israeli municipality in Jerusalem demolished a commercial store owned by him last July.
- The residents of Deir Al-Sunna neighborhood in the town of Jabal al-Mukabber were threatened to confiscate every land whose owners did not submit ownership papers., within the context of its attempts to seize more lands in the occupied city and turn it into settlement projects.
Hebron:
- Attacking 4young men, two women and an elderly woman in the Al-Sahla neighborhood near the Ibrahimi Mosque, causing injuries and bruises.
- Confiscating a bulldozer in the Umm Al-Sifa community in the Masafer Yatta with the aim of forcing its citizen to leave their homes and lands, in favor of the Israeli settlement.
- Closing the Bab Al-Zawiya area and the "Beersheba Street" leading to the center of Hebron to provide protection for dozens of extremist settlers.
- Storming the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, and performing Talmudic rituals and celebrations of what is called the Jewish throne day.
- Storming the village of Birin, east of Yatta, chanted ant aab s-;-gans and insults with the aim of displacing the village’s residents, in favor of expanding the Bani Hefer settlement.
Jenin:
- Closing the western entrance and the secondary roads of the town of Ya’bad, southwest of Jenin, with the earth mounds between Ya’bad, Mariha, Zabada and Barta’a in Tulkarm, which will affect the movement of the Palestinians, in addition to closing many secondary roads.
Nablus:
- Performing provocative Talmudic rituals at the entrance to the Al-Lubban Al-Sharqiya village, south of Nablus.
- Seizing a bulldozer, and stopping the rehabilitation works of a street in the village of Al-Lubban Al-Sharqiah, south of Nablus.
- Preventing the citizens from entering the archaeological site of Sebastia, closed it to secure the Israeli settlers entry to the area.
Salfeet:

- Seizing the security camers recordings from the town of Qarawat Bani Hassan, west of Salfit.
- Confiscating a bulldozer in the village of Farkha, west of Salfit, transferred it to a nearby Israeli camp.
Jordan valley:
- Bulldozing lands in the village of Kardala in the northern Jordan Valley, in favor of the Israeli company "Mekorot", with the aim of constructing a cement water tank in the area, to serve the Israeli settlers, amid the Palestinians fears of seizing more of their lands in the area.

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