17/04/2024,  https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2024/04/17/723872/IsraelsettlementexpansionGuardian 

                           Israel speeds up
                           settlement expansion
                           since October 7: Report
                           The Guardian reported that
                           Israel has approved or advanced 
                           more than 20 projects 
                           totalling thousands of
                           settler units  since early
                           October.                       

                           Israel has accelerated its settlement
                           expansion across East alQuds since
                           the regime launched its brutal cam
                           paign of death and destruction in the
                           besieged Gaza Strip in early October,
                           a report says.

                           The Guardian, citing the most recent
                           official planning documents, reported
                           on Wednesday that Israel has approved 
                           or advanced more than 20
                           projects  totalling thousands of
                           settler units.

                           At least two new settlement projects
                           were approved in the immediate after
                           math of hostilities in Gaza  only 48
                           hours. The expansion of a high-security 
                           gated settlement called Kidmat
                           Zion in the heart of the Palestinian
                           neighborhood of Ras alAmud on the
                           eastern periphery of the city was soon
                           set to go ahead.

                           The second project is known as Givat
                           Shaked and will be built on the north
                           western side of Beit Safafa on a plot
                           of grass and trees.

                           Two major projects now flank the
                           Palestinian community of Beit Safafa,
                           most of which is in East alQuds. One,
                           known as Givat Hamatos, was frozen
                           for a decade due to international
                           opposition.

                           A third settlement project, also near
                           Beit Safafa, is known as Lower
                           Aqueduct and involves the construction 
                           of a large settlement adjacent to
                           a Palestinian neighbourhood. The
                           Lower Aqueduct plan was fully approved 
                           on December 29. The site
                           straddles the line between East al
                           Quds and the western part of the city.

                           Sari Kronish, with the Israeli rights or
                           ganization Bimkom  Planners for
                           Planning Rights, has said, “The fast
                           tracking of these plans has been un
                           paralleled in the last six months."
                           Kronish said the construction plans
                           continued to advance “at unprecedented speed," 
                           notwithstanding the
                           shutdown of many activities due to
                           the military campaign in Gaza.

                               Ahmed Salman, 71, the chair of Beit
                               Safafa's community council, said,
                               “Our family has been here for 250
                               years … Now I have a black hole in
                               my heart because I can't see how
                               my children and grandchildren can
                               spend their lives here."

                           In a report to the Human Rights
                           Council in March, the United Nations
                           High Commissioner for Human Rights,
                           Volker Turk, said the Israeli regime
                           was going on with its settlement expansion
                           in the occupied Palestinian
                           territories by unprecedented amounts,
                           posing a significant threat to the viability
                           of a future Palestinian state.

                           The high commissioner said the expansion 
                           involved the transfer of settlers into 
                           occupied territories.
                           
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