The Palestinians are seeking to advance a resolution at the United Nations Security Council condemning Israel for its decision to advance construction plans for 10,000 new settlement homes and legalize nine wildcat outposts in the West Bank, Ynet learned on Tuesday.
Head of the Palestinian mission to the UN Riyad Mansour addressed a letter to all 15 members of the Security Council in which he accused Israel of trampling international law and "attempting to impose a fait accompli in occupied Palestine, through increasing illegal measures of colonization, annexation and collective punishment."
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Settlers overlook the Jewish West Bank settlement of Kokhav Hashahar
(Photo: Reuters)
In his letter, Mansour mentioned the Israeli Cabinet's recent decision to authorize nine illegal outposts, connect dozens more to electricity and water, and the advancement of plans for thousands new settlement housing units.
"Such decisions and accompanying statements by Israeli officials are further proof of the Israeli policy to annex the territory, which constitutes a war crime,” the letter read.
“The cruel irony is that Israel is forcibly uprooting Palestinian families and at the very same time it is building tens of thousands more housing units for the Israeli settlers, continuing to illegally transfer population to the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, with the direct aim of forcing an artificial change in the demographics, character and status of the territory.
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Head of the Palestinian mission to the UN Riyad Mansour scolds Israel's Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan during a Security Council hearing, January 5, 2023
(Photo: Reuters)
The Palestinians will try to raise the matter in the international body’s periodic hearing on the Middle East conflict next Monday.
Such actions constitute serious violations of international humanitarian law and also serious violations of international human rights law."
Bringing such a resolution to a Security Council vote could place the United States in a tight spot. Washington officially opposes Israel’s settlement expansion policy but supporting or abstaining on such a resolution could embarrass it in front of its long-standing Middle Eastern ally.
As a preemptive measure, Israel's Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan penned a letter to UN Security Council members on Tuesday, urging them to condemn a series of deadly terrorist attacks in Jerusalem by Palestinians that claimed the lives of 11 Israelis over the past two weeks, which he argued were directly precipitated by incitement and support for terrorism on the part of the Palestinian Authority and terror groups.
The ambassador also stressed that Israel would do everything necessary to protect its citizens.