Israel settlement plans provocative

The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) has condemned at Israel’s decision to construct more settlements in East al-Quds (Jerusalem).

OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said in a Saturday statement that the renewal of the settlement activities was “a provocative move contemptuous of the will of the international community and an act of sabotage against international efforts to revive the peace process.”

Ihsanoglu also said that the move “requires action by the international community to put a halt to Israel’s arrogance,” AFP reported.

On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved the construction 238 settler units in East al-Quds, Ynet reported on Friday.

Israel occupied East al-Quds, the promised capital of the future Palestinian state, alongside the other Palestinian territory of the West Bank in 1967. It later annexed the territories, defying the international community’s denunciation of the act as illegal.

Tel Aviv recently resumed direct talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA), which had warned against the construction and expansion of Jewish settlements on the Palestinian lands.

A few weeks into the talks, however, Israel dealt a serious blow to the process by refusing to extend a partial freeze it had imposed on the settlement activities.

Amid continued Israeli bloodshed in the occupied Palestinian territories and the Tel Aviv-imposed blockade on the Gaza Strip, he added that the United Nations had the responsibility “to stop Israeli aggression.”