RAMALLAH, November 1, 2011 (WAFA) - Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas said Tuesday that the Israeli government's decision to build 2000 new housing units in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, will accelerate the destruction of the peace process.

He told WAFA that “the talk about freezing PA’s funds is a provocation to our people and a theft of their money, as well as it aborts the efforts of the Quartet to re-launch the peace process.”

He said that the settlement activities are still ongoing and did not stop, neither before accepting Palestine as a full member in UNESCO, nor after it. It is only an Israeli pretext.

He said that preventing representatives from the UNESCO from entering the Palestinian Territory and Israel, in case it was announced there are Palestinian archaeological sites that must be preserved, is an obstruction to the United Nations’ humanitarian and cultural role and a violation of the international law.

He called on “the international Quartet and the U.S. administration to put an end to such practices, which will have negative consequences on the entire region.”

Israeli ministerial council decided Tuesday, in its 8th session, to hasten building new housing units in East Jerusalem, in Gush Etzion and Ma'ale Adumim settlements, in response to accepting Palestine in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as a full member.

Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu issued an order to hasten the building of new 2000 housing units in the areas Israel claims will remain under its control in case a deal is reached with the Palestinians, as well as to study the possibility of building new housing units in far away settlements, from which Israel is to withdrawal in case of reaching a peace agreement with the Palestinians.

M.G. /F.R.