Doha: Qatar on Friday condemned the intention of the Israeli occupation authorities to approve the construction of 4,000 new settlement units in the occupied West Bank stating that it was a “flagrant violation of international law and resolutions of international legitimacy.”
In a statement, the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on the international community to act urgently to prevent the occupation authorities from approving the plans and forcing them to stop their settlement policies in the Palestinian territories.
The ministry warned that “the Israeli settlement plans pose a serious threat to international efforts aimed at implementing the two-state solution, and impede the resumption of the peace process on the basis of international resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative.”
The ministry affirmed Qatar’s firm position on the justice of the Palestinian cause, the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, and the establishment of their independent state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
On Friday, the Israeli Civil Administration in the occupied West Bank stated that the occupation authorities are in the process of approving about 4,000 new settlement units in the West Bank.
The administration said, in a statement carried by Israeli media, “The settlement sub-committee of the Supreme Planning Council will hold a meeting, next Thursday, with the aim of depositing and approving new settlement plans that include 3,988 settlement units.”
Settlement is the main obstacle to the resumption of Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, as the Palestinians insist that settlement is illegal, based on international law.
The international community opposed the Israeli settlement in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem, West Bank, and the Gaza Strip during the six-day Arab-Israeli War in 1967. It later had to withdraw from Gaza.
More than 700,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 occupation of the Palestinian territories in the West Bank.
