“This government is determined to invest solely in the entrenchment of the occupation, rather than peace. By approving the expansion of this illegal settlement, Israel makes clear its intention to turn this occupation into an effective annexation,”

Chief Palestinian Negotiator, Dr. Saeb Erekat, condemned in the strongest terms Israel’s recent approval of the construction of 900 new illegal housing units in the illegal settlement of Jabal Abu Ghneim [known as Har Homa].

“This government is determined to invest solely in the entrenchment of the occupation, rather than peace. By approving the expansion of this illegal settlement, Israel makes clear its intention to turn this occupation into an effective annexation,” said the Chief negotiator.

All Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, are illegal under International Law and International Humanitarian Law. Their continued expansion is a flagrant violation of the International Roadmap, which was consecrated in UN Security Council resolution 1515.

Dr. Erekat added, “This is a flagrant display of disrespect and disdain to the international community, which has repeatedly condemned Israeli settlement construction as an illegal obstacle to peace. Israel is intent on sabotaging any international effort to reach a negotiated settlement to the conflict based on the principle of two states.”

The world agrees that the only solution to the conflict, Dr. Erekat said, is ending the 46 year-old Israeli occupation and the establishment of an independent and viable Palestinian State on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Continued Israeli settlement construction jeopardizes the very prospect of this solution, he said.

 “Israel is armed with the impunity brought on by decades of international leniency and lack of consequences to its illegal actions. It is now the responsibility of the international community to make clear that it will no longer tolerate this impunity and destructive consequences”, Dr. Erekat also said.

He concluded, “It is time for the international community to protect the two-state solution and counter Israel’s expansionist agenda by investing in peace. Supporting Palestine’s bid for recognition and admission at the United Nations is the constructive response to this destructive policy. We invite the world, once again, to unite in consecrating the two-state solution by recognizing Palestine on the 1967 borders and admitting Palestine as a full member of the UN”

The illegal settlement of Har Homa is built on Bethlehem land bordering occupied East Jerusalem. Its continued expansion effectively severs the connection between the two Palestinian cities.

On 13 November 1997, the Tenth Emergency Special Session of the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution condemning the construction in this illegal settlement, whose construction is aimed at changing the demographic and social composition of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly East Jerusalem.