RAMALLAH, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian presidency on Tuesday condemned an Israeli plan to legalize 140 settlement farms in the occupied West Bank.
Presidential spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh said in a statement carried by the official WAFA news agency that Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz's announcement on Monday of the plan represents "a major escalation in the implementation of the policy of annexation and racist expansion."
Abu Rudeineh said that these agricultural farms are, in reality, settlement outposts that complement settler violence carried out under army protection.
He emphasized that all settlement activity in Palestinian territory is illegal under international law and UN resolutions, particularly UN Security Council Resolution 2334, framing the plan as part of a gradual effort to expel Palestinian residents from pastoral communities and implement annexation.
Abu Rudeineh held the Israeli government fully responsible for the consequences of this escalation, warning it undermines international efforts to reduce tensions and restore calm. He urged immediate intervention from the international community.
Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East War. The settlements it has built there, and its military occupation, are considered illegal under international law. ■
