Israel to confiscate Palestinian land near Jerusalem to connect settlements

Israel is planning to seize more than 1km squared of agricultural land in occupied East Jerusalem to create a road connecting two Israeli settlements.

Local activist Bassam Bahr said that the Israeli municipality of West Jerusalem has announced plans to open a settlement road to connect the illegal settlements of Ma'ale Adumim and Kedar by taking land from the Abu Dis neighbourhood on the outskirts of East Jerusalem.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. More than 600,000 Israeli Jews live in settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

All Israeli settlements across the occupied West Bank are classed as illegal under international law, particularly article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which asserts that "the occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies".

Israeli forces and settlers routinely and sometimes fatally attack Palestinians in the occupied territories, demolishing their homes, poisoning their livestock and vandalising their properties.

As part of Trump's upcoming 'Deal of the Century', Abu Dis has been touted as the future capital of the Palestinian state instead of East Jerusalem, in a move rejected by the Palestinian Authority.

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