The United States has again called all settlements constructed by Israel on the occupied Palestinian land illegitimate and expressed deep concern over a report revealing that the Tel Aviv regime is planning to construct 20,000 more illegal settlement units. We are deeply concerned by this latest report, US State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said on Tuesday. We were surprised by this announcement and are currently seeking further explanation from the government of Israel, she stated, adding that we do not accept the legitimacy of continued settlement activity. Earlier in the day, anti-settlement group Peace Now revealed that Israel’s Housing Ministry has planned to build a record 20,000 new settler homes in the occupied West Bank. In a visit to the Middle East last week, US Secretary of State John Kerry also said that all Israeli settlements on the occupied Palestinian territories are illegal. Let me emphasize that the position of the United States is that we consider now, and have always considered, the settlements to be illegitimate, Kerry said. I want to make it extremely clear that at no time did the Palestinians in any way agree, as a matter of going back to the talks, that they could somehow condone or accept the settlements, he added. Palestinian and Israeli negotiators began a fresh round of talks in July. Last Palestinian-Israeli talks had broken down in September 2010 after Tel Aviv refused to freeze its settlement activities in the occupied West Bank. A senior Palestinian Authority official said last week that there will be no direct talks with Israel if it keeps on expanding illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli side is determined to continue its settlement and we cannot continue negotiations under these unprecedented settlement attacks, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, following a meeting between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators. The presence and continued expansion of Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine has created a major obstacle for the efforts to establish peace in the Middle East. More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds in 1967. The United Nations and most countries regard the Israeli settlements as illegal because the territories were captured by Israel in a war in 1967 and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbids construction on occupied lands.
Posted on: Wed, 13 Nov 2013 02:07:01 +0000
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