Israeli settlement expansion will lead to explosion of situation, Palestinian groups warn

Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas resistance movement have warned that Israel’s house demolitions and its expansion of illegal settlements in al-Quds will trigger of an “explosion” of the situation in the occupied territories.

Islamic Jihad leader Ahmad al-Mudallal said a great struggle has begun in al-Quds against Tel Aviv's attempts to Judaize the holy city.

“The Palestinian nation and its [resistance] groups will not back down from confronting the occupying regime,” Mudallal said, noting that al-Quds is a keg of gunpowder that could explode at any time and hit the occupiers.

“Al-Quds sits atop the priorities of Palestinian groups as always,” he said.

Palestine mulling over UN Security Council action against Israeli settlement activities

Palestine is thinking of a UN Security Council’s action against the Israeli regime’s settlement expansion activities in the occupied territories.

“Palestinian groups support the city of al-Quds and its inhabitants, who are leading Arab and Muslim nations in confronting the Israeli occupying regime’s crimes against al-Quds and the al-Aqsa Mosque compound,” Mudallal added.

He called on all Palestinians to express solidarity with the residents of al-Quds by holding demonstrations throughout the occupied territories.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem also condemned the Israeli regime's demolition of homes southeast of the occupied al-Quds in order to build some 2,500 settler units there.

“The construction of settlements across the Palestinian territories, in the West Bank and occupied al-Quds, amounts to a crime and a blatant violation before the eyes of the international community. It openly flouts international law and all resolutions on illegal settlements in Palestine,” he said.

“The Palestinian Authority must, therefore, take an immediate action and stop security coordination with the occupying regime. It must give popular resistance factions the free hand to target settlers, who are stealing Palestinian lands across the West Bank,” Qassem added.

Israeli committee approves plan for 1,500 new settlement units in occupied East al-Quds

An Israeli committee has approved a plan for the construction of 1,500 new settler units in the occupied East al-Quds.

He also called "on human rights organizations and freedom-loving people worldwide to condemn and stop the construction of settlements, which are being built to Judaize Palestinian lands”.

Qassem said, “The rapid expansion of settlements in al-Quds and the West Bank must never give the occupying regime the legitimacy to expropriate the historic lands of Palestine. The number of Palestinian refugees is not decreasing at all.”

About 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds.

Israeli settlers raze Palestinian land to expand illegal West Bank settlement

Israeli settlers raze Palestinian-owned land in order to expand a nearby settlement in the occupied West Bank.

Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinian state, with East al-Quds as its capital. The last round of Israeli-Palestinian talks collapsed in 2014. Among the major sticking points in those negotiations was Israel's continued settlement expansion.

All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law as they are built on occupied land. The UN Security Council has condemned Israel's settlement activities in several resolutions.

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