#West Bank

#West Bank

The Byzantine-era church lies half hidden in the shade. Roman columns rise from among the olive trees, even older ruins linked to Israelite kings are overgrown. To the west, the Mediterranean is just visible on the horizon. To the north and south are the hills of the occupied West Bank. In the small town of Sebastia, a hundred metres or less east of the ruins, everyone is very worried.

We are in the so-called southern region of Hebron, which has been under a curfew since dawn, Nassar said. There is an intensive deployment of occupation forces including bulldozers and tracked armoured vehicles. We witnessed tracked armoured vehicles the last time we saw these in Hebron was during the second Intifada during [Israeli] Operation Defensive Shield, he said, noting the significance of the heavy equipment.

The Israeli government has approved the formalisation of 19 so-called settlement outposts as independent settlements in the occupied West Bank. This is the third wave of such formalisations this year by the government, which considers settlement expansion and annexation a top priority. During an earlier ceremony of formalisation, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said, We are advancing de facto sovereignty on the ground to prevent any possibility of establishing an Arab state in [the West Bank].

The Occupied Territories Bill must be passed before Christmas, the combined Opposition demanded at Leinster House today.