Hamas: Ongoing settlement building a blow to negotiators

Hamas said on Wednesday that ongoing Jewish settlement plans in the occupied Palestinian territories were a blow to parties bent on negotiating with Israel as more plans for settlements have unfolded after the PLO’s statehood request at the UN.
In the statement, Hamas said it strongly condemned the Zionist entity’s settlement plans as well as the displacement of the indigenous Palestinians by force.
The statement declared continued settlement plans illegal according to international law and described the peace process with Israel as “fruitless”, saying that Israel “only understands the language of force”.
The statement comes after the Israeli occupation authorities approved 1,100 settlement units in the outpost of Gilo southwest of occupied Jerusalem and passed a decision to confiscate land in Palestinian Batir village, west of Bethlehem.
The Palestinian resistance group called on the Palestinian Authority to develop a defensive strategy in place of negotiations after fully reconciling with other Palestinian parties.
Meanwhile, calls have been made for a Palestinian uprising for what has been described as the “encroachment” of Jewish settlers into Jerusalem, asserting that the Palestinian population has no other available options.
Diplomacy has failed at curbing Jewish settlement construction in light of U.S. support for Israel, said a statement by the Popular National Congress of Jerusalem, noting a sharp rise in construction, with recent plans to build 1,600 settlement units in Ramot Shlomo and 1,100 more in Gilo settlements.
Plans have been unveiled for a new settlement project northeast of Bethlehem that would divide the southern West Bank from Palestinian villages near Jerusalem.
The Arab studies society in Jerusalem said a new settlement dubbed Gifat Yail, to be established on the apartheid wall village of Walaja, would stretch to the Gilo settlement, isolating Palestinian communities.
On Wednesday, Israeli occupation authorities handed locals in Batir village in western Bethlehem governorate notices declaring confiscation of a 148 dunum area of land from the village.
The notices offered to purchase the farmland that lies some 2 km away from the 1948 armistice line before it would be confiscated for military and security purposes.
According to the village municipal chairman, some 40 families have rights to the land.

Source: PIC