NEW YORK (Dispatches) –
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on the Zionist regime to immediately “cease all settlement activities” in occupied Palestinian territory, describing the occupying regime’s plans to advance the building of settlements as driving “tensions and violence” and being a major obstacle to a lasting peace.
“The Secretary-General reiterates that settlements are a flagrant violation of international law,” Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for the secretary general, said in a statement on Monday.
“The expansion of these illegal settlements is a significant driver of tensions and violence and deepens humanitarian needs,” Haq said.
“It further entrenches Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory, encroaches on Palestinian land and natural resources, hampers the free movement of the Palestinian population, and undermines the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination and sovereignty,” the UN chief said, according to Haq.
Haq said that Guterres was “deeply troubled” by the regime’s decision to amend settlement planning procedures that would speed up plans for new settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Al-Quds, as well as the advancement of more than 4,000 settlement housing units by the regime’s planning authorities.
On Sunday, Zionist prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved plans for thousands of new housing units in the occupied West Bank, giving the far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich sweeping powers to expedite the construction of settlements, which are illegal under international law.
The plans for the approval of 4,560 housing units in various areas of the West Bank have been included on the agenda of the regime’s supreme planning council which meets next week.
The occupying regime’s settlement expansion appears to put Netanyahu on a collision course with his closest ally, the United States, which said it was “deeply troubled” by the settlement expansion plan and the reports of changes to the processes for planning and approval of settlements on occupied Palestinian land.
Palestinian groups have also expressed deep concerns that the entire West Bank could soon come under the regime’s control.
To approve settlement activity is a “dangerous escalation to complete the annexation of the West Bank”, the Palestinian foreign ministry said.
Khaled Elgindy, senior fellow at the Washington DC-based Middle East Institute, told Al Jazeera that the UN chief’s strong words now need to be backed up with action on the ground.