RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories: The Palestinian Authority condemned on Tuesday Israel’s recent approval of 19 settlements in the occupied West Bank, accusing it of tightening its control over Palestinian land.
On Sunday, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced the authorities had greenlit the settlements, saying the move was aimed at preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state.
The Ramallah-based Palestinian foreign ministry decried the approval as a “dangerous step aimed at tightening colonial control over the entirety of Palestinian land,” calling it a continuation of “apartheid, settlement, and annexation policies that undermine the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.”
“The decision provides political cover for accelerating the plunder of Palestinian lands, expanding settlement infrastructure... alongside an escalating pace of settler terrorism against members of our people and their properties,” it said in a statement.
The latest move brings the total number of settlements approved over the past three years to 69, Smotrich’s office said.
