Nikolay Mladenov, Special coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, warns that the latest Israeli settlement plans in occupied Palestinian territories will lead to cut off communication between the north and the south of the West Bank, and between eastern Jerusalem and Bethlehem, which endorse the two-state solution.

Mladenov emphasized, before being appointed as United States Special Envoy to Libya, on applying the provisions of resolution 2334.

He expressed his annoyance of the ongoing Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, including eastern Jerusalem, noting that Israeli authorities adopted controversial settlements plans during the past year.

He also informed that the number of settlements built in 2020 is as same as the numbers of 2019, despite the interruption that lasted for eight months, noting that 50% of it lies in the depth of the West Bank, in vital regions.

He referred to a bid to construct 1200 new settlements in Givat HaMatos, threatening to separate Jerusalem from Bethlehem and southern the West Bank, and warned that any progress in these two projected will lead to undermine the establishment of a Palestinian state in a part of the negotiated two-state solution.

Israeli settlements in the West Bank and in eastern Jerusalem constitute flagrant violation for the international law and UN resolution, he added.

He appealed to stop the settlement activity immediately, to stop demolishing and seizing the Palestinian lands, humanitarian projects, and schools, and to stop

Source : Safa