Palestine´s representative to the United Nations in New York, Riyad Mansour, announced that a Palestinian protest memo had been sent to the Security Council regarding Israel´s new plans for settlement expansion in the West Bank.
Mansour told "Voice of Palestine" radio today, Thursday, that the protest note called for a firm international stance against Israel´s approval yesterday to build 2,166 new settlement units.
Mansour stated that the Palestinian memorandum confirmed that Israel’s continued settlement expansion constitutes a clear violation of all international legitimacy resolutions, the most recent of which is Security Council Resolution 2334, which considered all Israeli settlements on Palestinian lands illegal.
He pointed out that directing the memorandum comes in light of continuous meetings of the Fourth Committee of the United Nations General Assembly concerned with the political file to discuss the Israeli "violations" file, on top of that settlement in preparation for the adoption of the relevant decisions.
Israeli media reported on Wednesday that the Supreme Council for Planning in the Civil Administration approved the construction of 2,166 settlement units in dozens of settlements in the West Bank.
The Israeli Radio said that another meeting of the Council is expected to be held tomorrow (Friday), in which the building of units in other areas will be approved, in total more than 5,000 units will be approved.
According to the radio, building permits are issued after 8 months during which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu froze construction planning in the West Bank, and after pressure from the council heads.
On the other hand, Riyad Mansour confirmed that the Palestinian side had intensified contacts and consultations before the UN Security Council held an open session chaired by Russia on the 26th of this month, on the Palestinian issue.
He stated that the exerted Palestinian effort aims to focus the Security Council session on discussing the Palestinian initiative to hold an international peace conference on the basis of international references and with the participation of all parties.
He explained that the Palestinian side is working to accumulate the ongoing consultations with the concerned international parties until next January, when Tunisia assumes the monthly presidency of the Security Council, hoping to advance the implementation of the conference’s peace initiative and garner the necessary support for it.
