UN CONCERNED OVER ISRAEL'S ILLEGAL SETTLEMENT PLANS

UN-chief-Ban — **UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.** (Photo : Press Tv)

New York (The UN), 8 Sha’ban 1435/6 June 2014 (MINA) – UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has expressed deep concern over Israel’s plans to build new settler units in the occupied West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem), urging Tel Aviv to freeze its illegal construction activities.

“As the United Nations has reiterated on many occasions, the building of settlements on occupied territory is illegal under international law,” Ban’s spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said in a statement issued on Thursday, quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

Earlier in the day, the Israeli regime ordered its officials to implement plans for the construction of 1,800 settler units in the occupied Palestinian territories only hours after the Israeli Housing Ministry published tenders for the construction of some 1,500 settler units in the West Bank and East al-Quds.

“The secretary general calls on Israel to heed the calls of the international community to freeze settlement activity and abide by its commitments under international law,” Dujarric added.

Meanwhile, the European Union has also called on the Israeli regime to reverse its plans for building new settler units in the occupied Palestinian territories, saying, “We call on the Israeli authorities to reverse this decision and to direct all their efforts towards an early resumption of the peace talks.”

Israel claimed that the move was a response to the formation of a Palestinian unity government. The new cabinet of the Palestinian unity government was sworn in before acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Monday.

In April, Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas signed an agreement to end years of rivalry and form a unity government.

Angered by the unity pact between rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah, the Tel Aviv regime suspended the so-called peace talks with the Palestinian Authority on April 24 and threatened to impose further sanctions against Palestinians. (T/P01/E01).

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)