Israeli right-wing Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, agreed with Transportation Minister, Miri Regev, to allocate 3.5 billion Shekels for “developing colonies, roads, and infrastructure” for the colonialist settlers in the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.
Israeli sources said the plan aims at providing 360 million to develop roads leading to Beit El illegal colony near Ramallah, 156 Shekels for colonies in Al-Isawiya town in Jerusalem, and 500.000 Shekels for a colonialist road, and an intersection between Ariel and Tapuach.
The plan also allocates 80 million for a bypass road in East Jerusalem and 300 million for a road in its final planning stage, near Kochav Yacov and Atarot near Qalqilia, north of Jerusalem, in addition to 150 million for a road leading to Alfei Menashe near Ramallah, and 60 million for a colonialist road that extends in the West Bank.
The plan also has several stages of development for the coming years, including streets for colonizers around Nablus, Qalqilia, and Salfit.
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”.
