Palestinians condemn land confiscation by Israel

Palestinian Foreign Ministry denounced Monday an Israeli decision to confiscate 2,400 dunams of land (2.4 square kilometers) and announce them as "state land."

The ministry said in an emailed press statement that Israel "insists on more theft of Palestinian land, which strongly threatens the pillars of Palestinian existence."

Those practices "contradict with international law, according to which, the occupying power (Israel) is obliged to preserve the status quo in the territories under occupation," said the statement.

It added that Israel is using the "international silence as a cover to escalate its theft of Palestinian lands and uprooting its people because the verbal condemnations have no effect on the relations between Israel and world states and would not entail accountability."

According to the interim Oslo Accords signed between the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel in 1993, the West Bank is divided into three zones: A, B and C, with area A being under Palestinian control, B under Israeli security control and Palestinian administrative control, and C being under full Israeli control.

The settlements are illegal under international law and the international community opposes them, saying their construction undermines prospects of establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

Source: XINHUA