United Nations, October 20 (RHC)-- The Palestinian UN ambassador has called for a harsh UN Security Council resolution against Israel’s illegal settlement activities.  On Wednesday, Riyad Mansour urged the Council to adopt a resolution aimed at curtailing Israel’s continued settlement activities with threatening "consequences."     

He noted that it is "imperative" for the establishment of peace in the occupied Palestine that the Tel Aviv regime halt all of its illegal activities, including its occupation of Palestinian territories.  Israel’s settlement expansion has been among the main reasons behind the collapse of the last round of Israeli-Palestinian talks in 2014. 

According to Americans for Peace Now, the number of Israeli settlements has grown dramatically over the past 20 years, with the construction of 11,000 new settler units authorized under Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

The Israeli anti-settlement Peace Now group reported earlier this month that the regime's plans to construct 2,168 new housing units moved forward over the last Jewish year, compared to 553 ones the year before. 

Over half a million Israelis live in more than 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. 

Britain, France and Russia have already slammed Israel's settlement construction as an obstacle to peace and the establishment of a sustainable Palestinian state.