Settlement building ramped up in recent months, UN charges

Israeli settlement expansion has surged in the two months since the diplomatic Quartet called for a halt to the construction of Jewish outposts on Palestinian land, the UN envoy says.

Nickolay Mladenov, the UN coordinator for the Middle East peace process, tells the Security Council that the Quartet’s appeal for Israel to stop building in settlements had fallen on deaf ears.

“Its recommendations continue to be ignored, including by a surge in Israeli settlement-related announcements and continuing demolitions,” Mladenov says.

Nockolay Mladenov addressing the UN Security Council by videoconference on August 29, 2016. (UN/Rick Bajornas)

Since July 1, Israeli has advanced plans for over 1,000 housing units in occupied east Jerusalem and 735 units in the West Bank, Mladenov says.

Israel has undertaken a land survey on the outskirts of Bethlehem for the establishment of a new settlement in a move that would contribute to the “dismemberment of the southern West Bank,” said Mladenov.

Mladenov also charges that demolitions of Palestinian homes are on the rise in the West Bank, with over 130 structures destroyed.

“All of these plans would essentially create new illegal settlements and I call on Israel to cease and reverse these decisions,” he says.

— AFP