Ramallah, November 24 (RHC)-- Israeli authorities have moved to confiscate thousands of square meters of private Palestinian lands in the northern West Bank to expand a settlement in blatant violation of international law and defiance of United Nations Security Council resolutions condemning Tel Aviv regime’s land expropriation and settlement expansion policies in the occupied territories. 

Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit approved the expropriation of 45 dunams (45,000 square meters) of private Palestinian land between East Jerusalem and Nablus, approximately 49 kilometers (30 miles) north of Jerusalem, to advance construction projects in Ofra settlement. 

Palestinian chief negotiator and Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Saeb Erekat, said the Israeli regime is forcibly displacing the Palestinian population to advance its settlement expansion projects.  “Israel continues to forcibly transfer the Palestinian population for the sake of expansion and consolidation of its illegal colonial settlement activities on lands belonging to the State of Palestine,” he said in a statement. 

“As a result of the international community's failure to hold Israel accountable, Israeli war crimes continue to deny Palestine the right to exist. UN member states and international organizations must immediately assume their responsibilities, specifically those that fall under the Fourth Geneva Convention and Hague regulations, to protect the Palestinian nation.  The United Nations must also fulfill its obligations in accordance with international law and resolutions, including Security Council Resolution 2334,” Erekat commented. 

Less than a month before U.S. President Donald Trump took office, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2334, calling on Israel to “immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem.” 

About 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.  Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital. 

The last round of Israeli-Palestinian talks collapsed in 2014.  Among the major sticking points in those negotiations was Israel’s continued settlement expansion on Palestinian territories.  Trump backtracked on Washington’s support for the so-called “two-state solution” in February, saying he would support any solution favored by both sides.