Consequences of settlement funding: Palestinian Foreign Ministry holds Israeli government responsible

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned on Monday the proposal put forward by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich regarding the allocation of millions of shekels to deepen settlement in the occupied Palestinian territories. 

The Ministry warned of the dangers of the Israeli government adopting and approving this "expansionist colonial proposal."

It considers its approval as an Israeli persistence in accelerating the declared and undeclared gradual "annexation" of the occupied West Bank.

This would undermine the chance of implementing the two-state solution, altering the historical, political, legal, and demographic reality of the situation in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, preventing the realization of the Palestinian state, with its capital in East Jerusalem, as per United Nations resolutions.

It said that some in the Israeli government are "exploiting the atmosphere and conditions of the genocidal war against our people in Gaza, supported by some influential countries, to create new facts on the ground in the occupied West Bank."

The Ministry holds the Israeli government fully responsible for the consequences of approving Smotrich's proposals, especially their impact on the conflict area, the security and stability of the region, and international efforts to revive the peace process and resolve the conflict through political and negotiation means. 

The Ministry calls on the international community and the US administration to intervene quickly and exert real pressure on the Israeli government to force it not to approve such escalation proposals, which could further plunge the region into conflicts and "uncontrollable cycles" of violence.