UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reiterated on Monday that all Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and their associated regime and infrastructure, have no legal validity and are in flagrant violation of international law.
In a statement, Guterres' spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the UN chief is gravely concerned by the reported decision of the Israeli security cabinet to authorize a series of administrative and enforcement measures in Areas A and B of the occupied West Bank.
He warns that the current trajectory on the ground, including this decision, is eroding the prospect for the two-State solution, the statement said.
Such actions, including Israel's continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory are not only destabilizing but -- as recalled by the International Court of Justice -- unlawful, it said.
The secretary-general calls on Israel to reverse these measures and on all parties to preserve the only path to lasting peace, a negotiated two-state solution, in line with relevant UN Security Council resolutions and international law, the statement added.
Israel's security cabinet approved decisions on Sunday to deepen Israel's control over the occupied West Bank and the expansion of the Jewish settlement there, a minister said.
Among the controversial measures approved, the cabinet ordered the repeal of a Jordanian-era law that banned land sales to Jews, removed the requirement for special transaction permits, and renewed a state land acquisition committee that ceased operating around 20 years ago, read a statement from the office of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a key pro-settlement minister in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet.
The Palestinian presidency on Sunday described the decisions as "illegal, null and void," saying that they constitute "the practical implementation of annexation and displacement plans" and violate agreements signed between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel, international law and UN resolutions, according to the official news agency WAFA.
Under the Oslo accords signed between the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Israeli government in 1993, the West Bank region was divided into three areas: Area A under the Palestinian control, Area B under Palestinian civil administration and Israeli security control, and Area C under full Israeli control which comprises about 60 percent of the total territory of the region.
All Israeli settlements in occupied West Bank have no legal validity: UN chief
All Israeli settlements in occupied West Bank have no legal validity: UN chief
