Berlin - Saba:
The German Foreign Ministry spokesman condemned, on Monday, the decision of the "Israeli" occupation authorities to separate 13 settlement neighborhoods in the occupied West Bank from their neighboring settlements, and to start procedures to recognize them as independent settlements.
The spokesman said in a statement that Berlin rejects the "Israeli" settlement policies as a violation of international law, stressing that the Israeli occupation operations in Gaza Strip do not lead to the release of prisoners and cause a deterioration in the humanitarian situation.
The so-called "Israeli" Ministerial Council for Security and Political Affairs (Kabinet) had approved a proposal submitted by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to separate these neighborhoods and start procedures to recognize them as independent settlements, as part of the plan to annex parts of the West Bank to "Israeli" sovereignty.
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