The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates considered, on Wednesday, that the transfer of lands in the Bethlehem Governorate by the Israeli occupation authorities, for the benefit of the "influence zone" of the "Nahal Helitz" outpost, with the aim of turning it into a settlement, comes in light of the international failure to implement the relevant UN resolutions, especially Resolution 2334.

In a statement, it stressed that international failure encourages the occupation government to continue annexing the West Bank, deepening settlements, and continuing impunity.

It said that the decision of the occupation authorities to transfer lands in the Bethlehem Governorate, with an area of 338 dunams, to the "influence zone" of the "Nahal Helitz" outpost, to legalize it and turn it into a settlement, falls within the framework of an expansionist settlement policy that includes building and legalizing dozens of random settlement outposts, expanding existing settlements, and paving a large network of roads, to transform all settlements into a huge geographically connected cluster, devouring the largest area of citizens' lands in the occupied West Bank.

It added that the Israeli occupation government is deepening and intensifying settlement construction, while continuing to demolish Palestinian homes and facilities under flimsy pretexts and excuses such as lack of permits, specifically within areas classified as (B) in the West Bank, as is happening continuously in Masafer Yatta, the Jordan Valley and Jerusalem, and what happened today of distributing more demolition notices in the Nuweimah area in the Jericho Governorate.

The Ministry considered that the escalation of demolition operations and the distribution of demolition notices represent the ugliest expression of settlement expansion and the crime of ethnic cleansing, and a public disregard for international legitimacy decisions, international law and the advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice, and undermine any opportunity to revive the peace process on the basis of the two-state solution.