Palestine has strongly condemned Israel's illegal settlement plan targeting about 100 locations inside “Area A” in the occupied West Bank.
“The move represents an additional development in Israeli colonial thinking and a blatant violation of international law and signed agreements,” the foreign ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
The ministry described the plan as “a systematic war crime” aimed at imposing new facts by force on occupied Palestinian land, undermining security and stability, and destroying the foundations of the two-state solution.
“Israel has no sovereignty over any part of the occupied Palestinian territory,” it said.
“The occupation and settlement activity in all forms have no legitimacy and constitute a crime under international law, international consensus and UN resolutions.”
“Israel’s continued illegal occupation and colonial settlement system are the root of suffering and the main reason for the absence of security and peace in the Middle East,” the ministry continued.
It called on the international community and UN institutions, including the Security Council, to take practical deterrent measures to stop colonial settlement and compel Israel, as the occupying power, to comply with international law and UN resolutions.
The ministry also called for implementing the 2024 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, forcing Israel to abandon its colonial plans and abide by signed agreements in a way that guarantees an end to the Israeli occupation and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The proposal
Israeli illegal settler groups are said to have prepared a plan to seize 100 strategic locations in the Palestinian Authority-administered Area A of the occupied West Bank.
The Israel Hayom newspaper said the plan, prepared by the Settler Farms Association and the Havat (Farms) Forum, aims to fundamentally reshape the map of the occupied territory.
The proposal outlines a mechanism for deploying forces to approximately 100 strategic sites in the occupied West Bank on what it describes as an "execution day".
The locations are located in Area A, which, under the 1995 Oslo II Accord, is under the administrative and security control of the Palestinian Authority.
Under the accord, Area A is under full Palestinian control, and Area B is under Palestinian civil control and Israeli security control, while Area C, accounting for about 61 percent of the West Bank, remains under full Israeli control.
The Israeli army carries out near-daily raids in occupied West Bank cities and towns, often involving arrests, field interrogations and home searches.
Armed Zionist groups since 1948 have carried out massacres and displaced at least 750,000 Palestinians.
Israel has occupied more territories and refused to withdraw or allow the establishment of a Palestinian state.
