Radio Cadena Agramonte emisiora de Camagüey
Ramallah, Feb 16.- Palestinian authorities today condemned in harsh terms Israel's decision to register West Bank lands as state property, which constitutes a de facto annexation of large areas of that occupied territory.
The Palestinian Presidency warned in a statement about the danger of the new plan by Benjamin Netanyahu's government, noting that it violates international law and represents a threat to regional security and stability.
The text considered that the measure is a dangerous Israeli escalation against Palestine and constitutes the rescission of agreements signed between both parties.
Furthermore, it affirmed, it contradicts several UN Security Council resolutions on the matter, particularly Resolution 2334, which considers all settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, illegal.
The President of the Palestinian National Council, RouhiFattouh, spoke in a similar vein.
The leader estimated that the regulation and registration of lands in the West Bank represents an arbitrary measure, a large-scale looting of Palestinian lands, a de facto annexation, and a direct invasion.
Fattouh highlighted that this policy neither creates nor eliminates a right; on the contrary, it openly contradicts international norms, particularly the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, which prohibits the occupying power from making permanent changes in the occupied territory or confiscating the property of the population.
He recalled that the West Bank is an integral part of the Palestinian territory occupied during the 1967 war.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates stated that the Israeli decision is null and void and without legal value.
The measure constitutes the real beginning of the annexation process and the weakening of the foundations of the Palestinian state, the Foreign Ministry warned in a statement.
The ministry condemned any attempt to legitimize the crime of colonization and annexation, as well as the confiscation, occupation, and theft of Palestinian lands.
The Netanyahu government yesterday approved a project to initiate settlement procedures and land registration in the West Bank, for the first time since 1967.
Both the Israeli Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, and the Minister of Defense, Yisrael Katz, celebrated the initiative, which was condemned by the international community. (Text and photo: PL)
