Israeli Regime to Build 25,000 Illegal Settlements in Occupied Palestinian Lands

Tel Aviv regime’s Housing Minister Yoav Galant said Friday that the ministry and the so-called Municipality of al-Quds (Jerusalem) had been working for two years on the plan with proposals for 25,000 units, 15,000 of which would be in East al-Quds where the apartheid regime occupied in the 1967 war.
 
"We will build 10,000 units in Jerusalem and some 15,000 within the (extended) municipal boundaries of Jerusalem. It will happen," Galant told Israel Radio.
 
The plan was quickly denounced by Saeb Erekat, the Palestinians' chief negotiator, who described the move as a systematic violation of international law and a "deliberate sabotage" of efforts to resume the so-called peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians.
 
"All settlements in occupied Palestine are illegal under international law," he noted in a statement.
 
Erekat stressed, "Palestine will continue to resort to international bodies to hold Israel, the occupation power, accountable for its grave violations of international law throughout occupied Palestine."
 
The last round of the so-called peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians collapsed in April 2014. Tel Aviv’s settlement activities were among major reasons behind the failure of the talks.
 
Israeli settlements are considered illegal under international law as they are built on the occupied territories.
 
The plan is expected to be announced on the so-called "Jerusalem Day" when Israel celebrates its occupation of the eastern part of the city, which falls this year on May 24, according to Channel 2 news. 
 
The announcement coincides with the visit of US President Donald Trump, who has given the green light to the expansion of Jewish settlement. Trump’s trip will take place on or shortly after May 22.
 
The news comes a day after Trump said in an interview that he wanted to see a peace deal.
 
"I want to see peace with Israel and the Palestinians," he said, adding "There is no reason there's not peace between Israel and the Palestinians - none whatsoever."
 
Trump's call comes while Palestinians want the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, as part of a future Palestinian state, with East al-Quds as its capital.