RAMALLAH, September 11, 2017 (WAFA) – The Foreign and Expatriates Ministry condemned on Monday Israel’s construction of a new settlement in the occupied West Bank saying it undermines efforts to resume peace talks.
Israel launched this week plans to build the settlement on Amihai on private Palestinian land near the West Bank city of Nablus.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to build a new settlement for Jewish settlers evacuated from the settlement of Amona, which an Israeli court had ruled to evacuate because it was built on private Palestinian land near Ramallah.
The Foreign Ministry said that while all Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories are illegal and illegitimate, as well as an obstacle to peace, the construction of a new settlement is further proof that the government of Israel is determined to kill US-led efforts to resume Palestinian-Israeli negotiations.
“Israel’s persistence, as an occupying power, in its settlement expansion at the expense of Palestinian land is due to the weak international response and increases Palestinian frustration in reaching a political settlement to the conflict,” it said.
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