WEST BANK (Dispatches) – The Palestinian Hamas resistance movement has condemned the Zionist regime’s “racist occupation policies,” warning that illegal settlements will not be a safe haven for settlers, as the occupying regime continues to build new illegal settlements and demolish more Palestinian homes.
Hamas said in a statement that the regime’s measures represent a dangerous escalation that will not bring security or stability to the illegal settlers, and will not grant the occupation legitimacy or sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian land.
It warned that the regime’s administration “solely bears responsibility for the consequences of housing settlers near the Gaza Strip and for putting them in danger, and it bears full responsibility for its settlement escalation throughout the West Bank.”
“We call on the international community to shoulder its responsibility in curbing those racist occupation policies that threaten peace and security in the region,” the statement read.
Earlier on Monday, the Zionist regime approved the construction of a new illegal settlement near the besieged Gaza Strip.
In a tweet, the regime’s far-right prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “In cooperation with the minister of construction and housing, Yitzhak Goldknopf, we decided today during a cabinet session to build a new settlement close to the Gaza Strip.”
The development comes days after the regime officials gave the green light to plans to build nearly 1,200 units as well as other structures for commercial and public purposes on confiscated Palestinian lands in the neighborhoods of al-Thuri, Jabel al-Mukaber and Sur Baher, as well as in the illegal settlements of Kiryat HaYovel, Arnona and Katamonim.
While the occupying regime presses ahead to build and expand its illegal settlements, Palestinian communities and towns in occupied Al-Quds and several other areas in the occupied West Bank continue to be denied the right to build homes and property, or have to helplessly watch Zionist troops demolishing their homes, under various allegations meant to prevent the expansion of Palestinian towns and neighborhoods.
The occupying regime has stepped up its illegal settlement construction activities in defiance of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, which pronounced settlements in the West Bank and East Al-Quds “a flagrant violation under international law.”
Over 600,000 Zionists live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Al-Quds. All settlements are illegal under international law. The UN Security Council has condemned the regime’s settlement activities in the occupied territories in several resolutions.