On Sunday, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced that authorities had given the green light to the settlements, saying the move was aimed at preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state.
The Ramallah-based Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the approval as “a dangerous step aimed at strengthening colonial control over the entire Palestinian land,” calling it a continuation of “a policy of apartheid, settlement and annexation that undermines the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.”
– The decision provides political cover for the acceleration of the looting of Palestinian land, the expansion of settlement infrastructure, with the escalation of settler terrorism against members of our people and their property – the statement said.
The latest move brings the total number of settlements approved in the past three years to 69, Smotrich’s office said.
Excluding East Jerusalem, which Israel occupied and annexed in 1967, more than 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank, along with about three million Palestinian residents, reports AFP.
(Vijesti.ba / Fena)
