Israeli Regime to Seize Palestinian Lands for Illegal Settlement Expansion
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Israeli regime authorities have announced their intention to seize thousands of square meters of private Palestinian land in the central part of the occupied West Bank, in direct violation of international law, according to Palestinian officials.
Salfit Governor Abdullah Kamil, in a statement on Sunday, revealed that the regime officials issued an order to confiscate over 10 square kilometers of Palestinian-owned land. The targeted areas, as declared by the so-called Israeli Supreme Planning and Building Council, include the towns of Az-Zawiya, Deir Ballut, Rafat, Mas-ha village, and the village of Sinria, located south of Qalqilya.
"The Palestinian-owned lands are planned to be used for the construction of industrial and tourist areas, settlement units, and roads connecting the Zionist settlements in the occupied territories," added Kamil, a senior Palestinian official.
Kamil called upon local Palestinian residents and farmers to voice their objections by contacting local authorities, such as municipal and village councils, the General Authority for Civil Affairs, and the Wall and Settlement Resistance Authority.
Additionally, he urged the international community to take strong measures against the Israeli regime in order to halt its unlawful settlement expansion policies. This action comes as the Tel Aviv regime, emboldened by persistent US support, brazenly continues its construction efforts, directly defying United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334. The resolution unequivocally condemned the establishment of settlements in the West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem) as a flagrant violation of international law.
The majority of the international community considers these Zionist settlements in occupied territories as illegal. Over 600,000 occupying settlers currently reside in more than 230 settlements, all constructed since Israel occupied the West Bank and East al-Quds in 1967.
Multiple resolutions from the UN Security Council have condemned the Israeli regime's settlement activities in these occupied territories.
The Palestinians maintain their insistence on including the West Bank, with East al-Quds as its capital, as part of a future independent state. The collapse of the last round of Israeli-Palestinian talks in 2014 was attributed, in part, to the Tel Aviv regime's ongoing illegal settlement expansion.
