Palestinian Foreign Ministry Condemns Israeli Plans to Build “Sovereignity Road”

Ramallah, MINA – The Palestinian Foreign Ministry on Monday strongly condemned the announcement by Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett that he intends to build what he described as “sovereignty road” in the occupied West Bank that would isolate Palestinian towns and separate Palestinian from Israeli commuters on roads east of Jerusalem.

The Israeli media said Bennett ordered his office to advance planning of a highway dubbed “sovereignty road” for Palestinians only to separate them from Israeli commuters in preparation to build the highly controversial settlement in E1 area, east of occupied Jerusalem.

The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it “condemns in the strongest terms the apartheid practices of the Occupying Power in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”

It said the road will isolate Palestinian towns in the Jerusalem vicinity as Israel proceeds to build E1 settlement, which would “close the door once and for all to the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital,” and “deliver a severe blow to all international efforts aimed at launching a peace process and serious negotiations leading to the implementation of the two-state solution.”

The ministry called on the international community, particularly the United Nations Security Council and the European Union, to act immediately to stop Israel’s aggression against the Palestinian territories, warning that not holding Israel accountable for its violations of international laws and UN resolutions would encourage it to continue on this path and eventually annex large areas of the occupied Palestinian territory.(T/R3/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)