Palestine weekly: Israel accelerates land grabs in Gaza, West Bank

Earlier this month , Israeli ministers had described their expanding colonial project in the language of intent – with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announcing the “cancellation” of the Hebron Accords, and Israeli broadcasters reporting on the government cabinet’s intended “quiet annexation” of Gaza. This week, that vision began to take physical shape. In Hebron, Israeli forces brought heavy machinery into the Ibrahimi Mosque and began installing steel beams over its open courtyard – a structural alteration the mosque’s director called a fundamental change to the ancient site’s historic character; Israeli authorities have also blocked the Muslim call to prayer there for a week and a half. Recommended Stories list of 3 items end of list In Gaza, Smotrich announced that the Settlement Administration he heads had “completed plans” for three settlements in the north of the Strip and called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to approve them. And along the so-called “Yellow Line” demarcating Israeli control within Gaza, Israeli forces pushed their cement markers further west, expanding the territory under their control. Annexation, from blueprint to build If the Ibrahimi Mosque works were the week’s most visible construction, the quieter colonialist building happened across the West Bank’s outpost system, where the state moved to entrench settlement infrastructure that even Israeli law had viewed as illegal. …