A number of workers in the "Ariel" settlement, that is built by force on the territory of the city of Salfit in the northern West Bank, said that settlers there are working on a scheme to create a cemetery in the northern area of ââthe city to bury the dead settlers.
They added that the settlers is razing areas of the territory of Salfit between the wall and the settlement and that the goal is expansion towards building the cemetery later. And more apartments and settlement units are built rapidly and dramatically.
The researcher Khaled Maali said that the idea of ââbuilding the cemetery for the settlers is not a new one, and that the settlers of "Ariel" buried the settler "Ron Vhamai" former mayor and member of the Knesset, in the territory of Salfit; and that this settlement is the second largest settlement in the West Bank, with 50 000 settler where 25 000 settlers are living in " Residential Ariel", and 20 000 undergraduates and 5000 in the “Industrial Ariel” settlement.
Maali clarified that there are two thoughts between settlers about burring their dead in the settlement; one refuses to bury their dead in the settlements, for reasons related to the place and beliefs, the settlers have and other reasons, and another group of settlers agree to bury their dead in the settlement; but they bury them reluctantly with hesitation and in a small percentage, as they prefer to bury their dead in 48 areas.
He added that the aim of establishing the graves for the settlers and burring settlers in the West Bank is to insure their false claims about their right to the claim the so called "Promised Land", and the seizure of more Palestinian land to legitimize their settlement.
He pointed out that "Eilih" settlement north of Ramallah and east of Salfit has a cemetery for settlers , and there is a sign on Nablus-Ramallah street clearly saying "Eilih Cemetery ", and that there is permanent monitoring on the graves ; and that the number of settlers buried in the cemetery are small because settlers fears from the uncertain future of settlements and thus the fate of the bodies of their dead .
HE affirmed that the Israeli army had already removed under the pressure of the brave Palestinian resistance in Gaza, dozens of settlers’ graves from the settlements, which the army destroyed before its withdrawal; and that the fate of settlements’ graves in various parts of the West Bank would not be better than the fate of settlers’ graves in Gaza .