Fatouh: Approval of 13 New Settlements Marks Escalation of Annexation Policy and Settlement Expansion

 الأراضي المقدسة الخضراء / GHLands

President of the Palestinian National Council Rawhi Fatouh said that the approval by Israel’s Security and Political Cabinet (the "Cabinet") to establish 13 new settlements within the so-called Binyamin Regional Council represents a new escalation in Israel’s settlement expansion and de facto annexation policies in the occupied West Bank.

In a statement issued on Friday, Fatouh said the decision forms part of a broader strategy of gradual annexation aimed at imposing new geographic and demographic realities across the occupied Palestinian territory. He stated that the expansion of settlements seeks to isolate Jerusalem from its Palestinian surroundings while fragmenting Palestinian cities, towns, and villages into disconnected enclaves, further entrenching what he described as a system of apartheid and undermining the prospects for a geographically contiguous Palestinian state.

Fatouh added that the Israeli government is exploiting ongoing regional and international instability, as well as what he described as political cover provided by recent U.S. positions and statements, to advance its settlement agenda. He said these policies continue in defiance of international law and United Nations resolutions, while accelerating land confiscation, forced displacement, ethnic cleansing, and the imposition of facts on the ground through force.

He further argued that Israel’s far-right government is attempting to divert attention from its domestic political challenges and growing international isolation by intensifying settlement expansion, Judaization policies, and what he described as organized attacks against the Palestinian people, in violation of the Geneva Conventions, the United Nations Charter, and the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice.

Fatouh called on the international community to take concrete measures to halt these policies, including imposing sanctions on Israel, holding those responsible for violations against the Palestinian people accountable before international courts, and ensuring that perpetrators of alleged crimes do not enjoy impunity, in order to uphold international law and safeguard international peace and security.