Qais Omar Darwesh Omar and Said Ibicioglu
15 April 2021•Update: 15 April 2021
RAMALLAH, Palestine
Palestine on Thursday urged the US and the international community to take a stand against Israel’s illegal settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank.
“Occupation authorities accelerated the construction of new settlement units, huge roads and tunnels in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and its surroundings,” its Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Israeli plans to construct new settlement units would undermine international efforts to restart the peace process between the two countries, it said.
The administration of Joe Biden has repeatedly demanded that Israel avoid unilateral acts that would undermine the idea of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to statements by US State Department spokesman Ned Price.
Israel received unconditional support from former US President Donald Trump and his administration for its annexation plan and illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
An Israeli planning commission confirmed the construction of 540 new units in the Har Homa neighborhood in East Jerusalem on April 7.
Palestinian and Israeli figures estimate 650,000 Israelis live in 164 settlements and another 124 settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Such settlements are illegal under International law as it is built on occupied Palestinian lands.
International law views the West Bank and East Jerusalem as occupied territories and considers all Israeli settlement-building activity there illegal.
*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz in Ankara
