WEST BANK (Dispatches) – The Zionist regime’s authorities have legalized the illegal Mitzpe Dani settlement outpost built east of Ramallah and approved a plan to add 114 new housing units to it on an area of 150 dunums (37 acres).
Muayyad Shaaban, the head of a local anti-settlement committee, told the Wafa news agency that the occupation authorities had previously avoided legalizing or enlarging the settlement outpost.
However, the blueprint of the outpost was approved which will result in seizing a large area of Palestinian land in the village of Deir Dibwan to expand the outpost and build a new settlement.
He added that the occupying regime authorities aim to establish large settlement blocs on Palestinian land, specifically in the eastern region of the occupied West Bank close to the Jordan Valley.
Meanwhile, the regime’s authorities demolished the Arab village of al-Araqeeb, located in the Negev region, for the 204th time today.
In a statement to Anadolu, Aziz Al-Turi, a member of the Committee for the Defence of al-Araqeeb, said that the Zionist regime authorities “stormed the village of al-Araqeeb and demolished its homes for the 204th time.”
Al-Turi reiterated that the people “will rebuild their village.”
The last time the occupying regime demolished the homes was at the end of last month.
Houses in al-Araqeeb are built of wood, plastic and corrugated iron, and are inhabited by 22 families, according to Anadolu.
Zionist authorities have resumed settlement expansion activities against the backdrop of U.S. President Joe Biden’s controversial trip to the occupied territories.
Speaking at the weekly cabinet meeting held in Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority (PA), Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said on Monday the regime had endorsed plans to seize large swathes of Palestinian land to build 30,000 new settler units in Bethlehem and other cities across the West Bank.
Political experts say Biden’s recent visit to the occupied territories as well as Saudi Arabia furthered the repression of the Palestinians. Some say the trip appears to be a sign that Washington is forsaking any meaningful contribution to solving the Zionist-Palestinian conflict.
Between 600,000 and 750,000 Zionists occupy over 250 settlements built since the 1967 occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Al-Quds. Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinian state, with East Al-Quds as its capital.