The political advisor at the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Ahmed Al-Deek, accused Israel, on Friday, of preparing to consolidate its control over most of the West Bank lands, after the Israeli Knesset passed a law to support settlement outposts.
Al-Deek told Xinhua that the steps being taken to pass laws to legalize outposts and provide support for them in the Knesset "constitute an effective annexation of the Palestinian lands."
Al-Deek considered that this "is an integral part of the race against time by the ruling right in Israel to try to exploit what remains of the administration of US President Donald Trump, to deepen settlement activity and undermine any opportunity for a two-state solution."
Al-Deek called on the international community to assume its responsibilities towards the Israeli settlement escalation facing the Palestinian territories, which "threatens any chances for the establishment of a viable and continuous Palestinian state."
The day before yesterday, the Israeli Knesset General Assembly approved a draft law requiring the state to provide electricity, water and other infrastructure to random settlement points in the West Bank, and to allocate special funds to them, according to Israeli public radio.
The radio quoted the presenter of the bill, MP Yamina Bezalel Smotrich, that a lightning campaign should be undertaken to pass the aforementioned bill in the three readings before the Knesset is dissolved, which is expected to be the night (Tuesday - Wednesday) of next week in the event that the draft budget is not approved.
According to the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories "B´Tselem", the outposts expand the area of ​​control of settlements and double the areas of confiscated Palestinian land in the West Bank.
Al-Deek said that such steps "are part of Israel´s efforts to annex the vast majority of the Palestinian territories classified (C), which constitute 61 percent of the West Bank."
He added that this is being done "under the pretext of building new roads and legitimizing outposts and linking them with the major settlements, so that the settlements in the West Bank will be transformed into a single settlement bloc to be linked inside Israel."
He considered that these steps "will practically lead to what President Trump promised in the deal of the century, which is a quiet and gradual annexation of the West Bank and the transformation of Palestinian communities into separate cantons."
The Palestinian official considered that what is happening on the ground "constitutes the last test for the international community to stop its failure in the face of the systematic Israeli destruction of the two-state solution and the chances of establishing a just peace."
He stressed that the settlement file is on the table before the International Criminal Court, "which requires action from the Pre-Trial Chamber of the Court to take into account the recommendation of the Public Prosecutor regarding the applicability of the court´s guardianship to the Palestinian lands."
The Israeli settlement is one of the most prominent files of disagreement between the Palestinians and Israel, in light of the stalled peace negotiations between them since 2014.
