Palestinian National Authority spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeina rejected approval yesterday of the initiative, which will allow for the construction of 3,400 housing units in the area, located between East Jerusalem and the Jewish settlement of Ma’ale Adumim.

Such a proposal violates international law and several UN Security Council resolutions, especially 2334, which stipulates that all settlements are illegal, whether in the Gaza Strip or the West Bank, he emphasized.

Rudeina affirmed that the actions of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government are a challenge to the world and warned that the plan represents a dangerous escalation that will split the West Bank in two.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates issued a similar statement, warning about the separation of the occupied area of East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank.

This decision will undermine the possibilities of creating a Palestinian state on the ground, by tearing apart its geographic and demographic unity and enshrining the division of the West Bank into geographically isolated regions and cantons, it stressed.

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