Islam Times - UN deplores new Israeli permits for 500 more settlement units

Islam Times - A senior United Nations official has criticized a recent Israeli approval for the construction of even more illegal settlement units in occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank.

In a Wednesday statement, Robert Serry, a UN coordinator for Israeli-Palestinian talks, described as “deplorable” the decision by the Israeli regime to authorize the building of 500 new illegal units in the West Bank settlement of Shilo.

Serry added that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had previously “reiterated” that the Israeli settlement activity is illegal and “will not be recognized by the international community.”

Israeli officials announced on Wednesday that more than 200 settler homes built “without a permit” by the Tel Aviv regime in the West Bank would also be “legalized.”

“Today’s announcement by Israel to approve a large number of new units deep inside the occupied Palestinian territory in the settlement of Shilo and retroactively legitimize hundreds in a nearby outpost is deplorable,” Serry said.

On February 6, Ban Ki-moon emphasized that the illegal Israeli “settlements and their infrastructure severely restrict access to land and natural resources by the Palestinian people.”

Nearly 500,000 Israelis live in more than 100 settlement units built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem).