Palestinians Warn against Dozens of Settlement Plans

Palestinian demonstrators break a gate of the Israeli barrier during a protest against Israeli settlements in the outskirts of the village Kafr Thulth near the West Bank town of Qalqilya, Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Palestinian demonstrators break a gate of the Israeli barrier during a protest against Israeli settlements in the outskirts of the village Kafr Thulth near the West Bank town of Qalqilya, Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
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Palestinians Warn against Dozens of Settlement Plans

Palestinian demonstrators break a gate of the Israeli barrier during a protest against Israeli settlements in the outskirts of the village Kafr Thulth near the West Bank town of Qalqilya, Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Palestinian demonstrators break a gate of the Israeli barrier during a protest against Israeli settlements in the outskirts of the village Kafr Thulth near the West Bank town of Qalqilya, Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

Palestinian parties warned on Saturday that dozens of settlement plans were being implemented at a quick pace to take advantage of the remaining term of US President Donald Trump.

The PLO’s National Office for the Defense of Land and Resistance of Settlement confirmed that the Israeli government holds onto its policy of imposing changes in the remainder of Trump’s term.

The office stated, in its weekly report, that "the end of the year 2020 and the beginning of the new year 2021 witnessed an increase in settlement activities, plans and tenders and attacks on citizens and their properties."

Lands were seized in town of Al-Khader in Basin (8) from the Al-Shifa site, Wadi Al-Hindi and Basin No. (1) from the Umm Al-Tala plot in Artas village, and Basin (4) from the site of Wa'r Abu Mehr and Al-Aqban, and Basin (5) from the meadows site in the village of Tamrah, to the east.

The Israeli Ministry of Interior published an announcement issued by the so-called "Supreme Planning Council of the Civil Administration" regarding a new settlement plan, which stipulates the confiscation of 1,008 dunums of lands from Azzun village in the Qalqilya governorate to build settlements.

The new settlement plan, No. /13/8/115, includes the construction of 1,406 units in the southeast of the "El Fei Menashe" settlement.

In occupied east Jerusalem, the Israeli municipality approved, in its last session, a plan to establish a large dumpsite to collect, sort, and burn waste on private Palestinian land between the settlement of “Ma'ale Adumim” and the “Mishor Adumim” industrial zone, according to the report.



Iraqi Oil Minister: Kurdistan Region's Oil Exports to Resume Next Week

A view shows the al-Shuaiba oil refinery in southwest Basra, Iraq April 20, 2017. Reuters
A view shows the al-Shuaiba oil refinery in southwest Basra, Iraq April 20, 2017. Reuters
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Iraqi Oil Minister: Kurdistan Region's Oil Exports to Resume Next Week

A view shows the al-Shuaiba oil refinery in southwest Basra, Iraq April 20, 2017. Reuters
A view shows the al-Shuaiba oil refinery in southwest Basra, Iraq April 20, 2017. Reuters

Oil exports from the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region will resume next week, Iraq's oil minister said on Monday, resolving a near two-year dispute as ties between Baghdad and Erbil improve.
The oil flows were halted by Türkiye in March 2023 after the International Chamber of Commerce ordered Ankara to pay Baghdad damages of $1.5 billion for unauthorized pipeline exports by the Kurdistan Regional Government between 2014 and 2018.

"Tomorrow, a delegation from the Ministry of Oil... will visit the Kurdish region to negotiate the mechanism for receiving oil from the region and exporting it. The export process will resume within a week," Oil Minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani told reporters.

According to Reuters, he added that Baghdad would receive 300,000 barrels per day from the region.

Erbil-based Rudaw TV earlier cited Kurdistan's natural resources minister, Kamal Mohammed, as saying oil exports could resume before March as all legal procedures have been completed.

The Iraqi parliament approved a budget amendment this month to subsidize production costs for international oil companies operating in Kurdistan, a move aimed at unblocking northern oil exports.

The resumption is expected to ease economic pressure in the Kurdistan region, where the halt has led to salary delays for public sector workers and cuts to essential services.