Dr. Erekat on the Latest Israeli  Settlement Announcements in Occupied Palestine

We strongly condemn the insistence of Netanyahu’s government to continue imposing its colonial enterprise throughout occupied Palestine, which aims at burying the two-state solution and to systematically deny the Palestinian people's right to self-determination. 

The recent Israeli settlement announcements include the reported decision of the Israeli  ”Jerusalem Municipality" to revive a plan previously announced in the mid of last year to build approximately 10,000 settlement units on the site of the Jerusalem International airport on land belonging to the Palestinian village of Qalandia. Further plans include: the expropriation of Palestinian lands in Ras Al-Mud to build an information and new visitor center to serve the Jewish Cemetery adjacent to Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound, a plan to expand the illegal settlement of "Shilo” to accommodate settlers evacuated from “Amona” settlement that was illegally built on private Palestinian land, as well as the establishment of a new settlement installation (outpost) near the “Adam” settlement northeast of Jerusalem.

This comes at a time when our heroic prisoners are facing a series of Israeli arbitrary and oppressive measures against their open hunger strike for dignity and freedom.

These Israeli systematic violations of international law are a clear message to the United States, which is currently preparing for the visit of the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and a deliberate sabotage of international efforts to resume the political process. 

All settlements in Occupied Palestine are illegal under international law. Palestine will continue to resort to International bodies to hold Israel, the occupation power, accountable for its grave violations of International law throughout Occupied Palestine. 

The United States and the world's countries should realize that there will be no peace in the entire region or a just and comprehensive political agreement without a halt to all settlement activities, an end to the Israeli occupation, a just solution to Palestinian refugees in accordance with UN resolution 194, the release of all Palestinian prisoners, and the achievement of the independent State of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital.