Ramallah - Saba:
Minister Mu'ayyad Shaaban, head of the Palestinian Commission for Resistance of the Wall and Settlements, stated that the Israeli enemy's decision last night to convert 13 colonial neighborhoods into settlements with full privileges and services is a new step targeting Palestinian geography with tampering and fragmentation.
Shaaban explained in a statement issued today, Sunday, and reported by the Palestinian News Agency "WAFA" that the Israeli entity has decided to separate a group of colonial neighborhoods affiliated with the settlements and consider them separate settlements, in a new step that will strengthen settler colonialism in the Palestinian territories.
Shaaban explained that these neighborhoods are located four of them in the Ramallah Governorate, specifically next to the Talmon settlement, and four others in the Bethlehem Governorate, while two neighborhoods are located in the Salfit Governorate, one in Nablus, one in Jericho, and the last in Tubas.
He added that most of these neighborhoods were established as illegal colonial outposts two decades ago, and then The Israeli entity undertook the task of transforming them into neighborhoods, in clear circumvention of international law and the international position rejecting colonial construction.
"At the time, the Israeli entity avoided announcing the construction of new settlements, claiming they were neighborhoods and aimed at addressing the natural growth of the settlers. However, these days, the occupying entity is revealing its true intention and real goal of building settlements, in favor of expansion and the appropriation of more land, and the elimination of the possibility of geographical contiguity between the Palestinian villages and towns in these areas."
Shaaban said, "Most of the thirteen colonial neighborhoods that the Israeli entity transformed into existing settlements have, as of today, been included in the official lists of the Authority as settlements, not neighborhoods, a clear indication of the true objectives behind them, at the expense of Palestinian land."
"The far-right government, which declared from the first day of its formation that colonialism would be a top priority, has continued since the first day to implement plans to control Palestinian lands, clearly declaring its intention to implement annexation plans, impose sovereignty, and fragment Palestinian geography, in clear and blatant defiance of all international laws that criminalize such behavior."
He called on the international community to intervene clearly, genuinely, and effectively to punish the Israeli entity for its violations and defiance of international resolutions, the most recent of which was the high-level advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice regarding the status of the occupation and colonial expansion, in addition to Security Council Resolution 2334 regarding the illegality of colonialism and the invalidity of its facts on the ground.
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