NEW YORK - SABA : The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, said that "Israel's establishment of settlements in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, has no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation of international law."
According to the Palestinian News Agency, the UN Security Council held a session on Thursday, to discuss the implementation of Resolution 2334 (2016), which calls on Israel to immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Wennesland stressed in a briefing to the Council via video that "settlement activity continues, and the devastating conflict in Gaza continues alongside daily violence in the occupied West Bank, despite Security Council Resolution 2334 calling for an immediate and complete cessation of all settlement activities, and taking immediate steps to prevent all acts of violence against civilians."
“Some 6,370 new settlement units were advanced or approved, and demolitions and seizures of Palestinian-owned structures continued throughout the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem,” Wennesland added.
He reported continued evictions of Palestinian citizens from their homes in East Jerusalem, and the displacement of 188 Palestinians, including 111 children, from their communities in the West Bank due to settler violence and harassment and shrinking grazing land.
The Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process presented the Secretary-General’s remarks on the implementation of resolution 2334, in which he reiterated his unequivocal condemnation of the widespread killing and injury of civilians in Gaza, including women and children, and the deprivation of essentials for survival.
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