Gaza, 13 March 2024 (TDI): The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates condemns in the strongest terms the recent actions undertaken by extremist colonists under the auspices of the Israeli government, led by Prime Minister Netanyahu, in furthering settlement expansion within the occupied Palestinian territories.
In particular, the Ministry highlights the alarming establishment of a new settlement outpost in the Arab Al-Kaabna area in Al-Marajat, swiftly followed by another outpost in Ain Al-Sakout in the northern Jordan Valley.
Furthermore, the Ministry holds the Israeli government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Netanyahu, fully accountable for the consequences of these provocative acts.
By condoning and facilitating settlement expansion, Netanyahu not only disregards international legitimacy and relevant UN resolutions, including Security Council Resolution No. 2334 but also demonstrates a disregard for the rights and aspirations of the Palestinian people.
Moreover, the Ministry highlighted the dangerous repercussions on the conflict arena, as it is a deliberate sabotage of the situation and its introduction into a never-ending spiral of violence, especially since the settlement is a crime for which international law is accountable and plays a subversive role in undermining the opportunity to Resolve the conflict according to the principle of the two-state solution.
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The Ministry believes that the establishment of two random outposts within 24 hours on the territory of the State of Palestine is a blatant challenge to international legitimacy and its resolutions.
The Ministry confirms that failure to impose deterrent sanctions on the colonial settler-occupation system encourages the Israeli extreme right to persist in deepening the replacement settlement.
Furthermore, it also encourages Netanyahu to distribute consolation prizes to his partners, representatives of the settlers, at the expense of the blood of our people, the future of his generations, and the land of his homeland, the ministry stated.
Israel obstructs Palestinians to pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque
Previously, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned in the strongest terms the Israeli occupation authorities’ actions to place barbed wire on the fence adjacent to Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Lions’ Gate area, as well as placing iron barricades in the streets leading to the mosque to obstruct the movement of citizens and prevent them from flowing in to pray at Al-Aqsa.
The Ministry also strongly condemned any restrictions imposed by the occupation authorities to limit worshipers’ access to the mosque.
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Moreover, the Ministry considered the occupation measures to fall within the framework of the creeping Judaization of Al-Aqsa and the dedication to its temporal division, pending its spatial division, if not complete control over it and its demolition to erect the alleged structure in its place.
Furthermore, it confirmed that the occupation’s continued aggression against Al-Aqsa is the shortest way to blow up the entire conflict arena and bring it into the furnace of a fire that is difficult to control.
The Ministry calls for urgent and serious international intervention to stop Israel’s encroachment on Jerusalem and its holy sites, especially Al-Aqsa, and to exert real pressure on it to retract its Judaization measures, and to work to protect Al-Aqsa from extreme extremists and those who support them in the Israeli government.