Palestine Warns Israel's New Settlement Plan In The West Bank Will Trigger Conflict

Palestinian Presidential Spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh. (Source: WAFA)

Palestinian Presidential Spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh strongly criticized and rejected the Israeli occupation authority's approval to build 3,400 new colonial settlement units in the E1 region.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Abu Rudeineh stated the plan violated international law and internationally legal resolutions, particularly UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which confirmed all illegal settlements, both in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

The occupation authorities oppose the international community, which has issued a statement condemning and warning against the progress of the settlement plan, calling it a dangerous escalation that will completely separate the northern West Bank from the south, he said, quoted from WAFA August 21.

Abu Rudeineh considers the Israeli occupation government to be fully responsible for the impact of these dangerous and aggressive policies, warning it could trigger conflict across the region.

He also urged the United States Government to step in immediately to end this Israeli absurdity and force it to stop an all-out war against the Palestinian people.

This includes stopping the ongoing genocide war, particularly amid Israeli threats to escalate aggression against the people of the Gaza Strip, as well as stopping its attacks on the West Bank, increasing terrorism of settlers there, and attacks on places of Islamic and Christian sacredness.

As previously reported, a large construction project that will build about 3,400 housing units in the controversial E1 area of the West Bank, between Jerusalem and the Ma'ale Adumim settlement, has received final approval on Wednesday.

Announced last week by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, the controversial plan was officially approved by the Civil Administration High Planning Committee, a department at the Ministry of Defense.

Smotrich, who also holds the position of junior minister at the Ministry of Defense who gave him broad authority in settlement development, called the decision "historic."

He described the construction plan as a "significant measure that practically eliminates two countries' woes and strengthens the grip of Jews at the heart of the Land of Israel."

"The Palestinian state is being removed from the table not by slogans, but by action. Every settlement, every neighborhood, every housing unit is another nail in the coffin of this dangerous idea," the right-wing minister said.

He described the dramatic move, which would effectively divide the West Bank into two, in retaliation for Western countries announcing plans to recognize the Palestinian state in recent weeks.