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Brazil, Malaysia slam Israeli settlements

Brazil and Malaysia have condemned Israel’s illegal construction on the occupied Palestinian land following the submission of an anti-settlement draft resolution to the UN Security Council by Arab nations.

The countries’ ambassadors at the Security Council meeting on Wednesday blamed the collapse of direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority late last year on Tel Aviv’s refusal to extend a partial settlement freeze last September, Xinhua reported.

“We once again reiterate our call on Israel to heed the unanimous call of the international community in this regard,” Brazil’s permanent representative to the UN, Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, said in an address to the Council.

She said that Israel’s decision to not renew the settlement moratorium and accelerating the pace of construction is “not only illegal” but also risks a two-state solution, emphasizing that settlement activity in occupied Palestinian territories must immediately cease.

Hamidon Ali, who represents Malaysia at the United Nations, echoed the Brazilian envoy and stated that “the continued occupation of Palestinian territory and its ramifications are unacceptable.”

The Arab nations submitted a draft resolution to the UN Security Council on Wednesday demanding condemnation of illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem).

Israel’s decision not to renew the moratorium prompted Palestinian Authority negotiators to walk out of US-sponsored direct talks they had started with Israeli leaders three weeks earlier in Washington.

The UN has repeatedly declared Israeli settlement buildings on Palestinian land as illegal.

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