Israeli soldiers stand guard as Israeli workers remove a tent that was pitched near the Israeli settlement of Susya on March 28, 2018. (AFP photo)
RAMALLAH, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh said on Thursday that all Israeli settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territories is considered illegal and a violation of international legitimacy.
"The continuation of the settlement policy, statements by U.S. officials supporting settlements and incitement by Israeli ministers have ended the two-state solution and ended the U.S. role in the region," the spokesperson said in a statement to the official Palestinian news agency (WAFA).
Abu Rudeineh said that "Israel will foil all international efforts to save the political process, which requires from the international community to immediately act to provide international protection to Palestinian people and to recognize the State of Palestine on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital."
He warned that "Israeli measures and U.S. bias created the circumstance and conditions that increased instability and contributed to turning the region into tracks that would destroy everything."
Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said on Thursday that he will seek a fast-track approval for 2,500 settlement units in the West Bank.
Liberman said in a statement that the construction approvals for additional 1,400 units will be promoted, but not immediately.
The plan includes construction in the Ariel, a large settlement in the north of the West Bank and 460 units in Maaleh Adumim near Jerusalem.
Palestinians has submitted a referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC) asking prosecutors to open a formal investigation into accusations of Israeli crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories. Israel slammed the step and said the ICC has no jurisdiction to investigate its policies.
Around 600,000 settlers live in the settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which Palestinian want to declare as their future state capital.
