Israel's continued settlement activity on the West Bank and in the area of East Jerusalem undermines international efforts to resume Palestinian-Israeli political dialogue and can be regarded as the annexation of the occupied territories, Maria Zakharova, director of the Russian foreign ministry's Information and press department, said a briefing on Thursday in connection with new plans announced the other day to expand Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories.
"We reiterate Russia's principled and consistent position on the illegality of Israeli settlement activity," she said. - "We are convinced that such unilateral actions undermine the chances of establishing a viable and geographically continuous Palestinian state in accordance with UN decisions, as well as the effectiveness of the international community's efforts to create conditions for an early resumption of Palestinian-Israeli political dialogue."
According to a diplomatic spokesman, continued settlement activity and "the current Israeli government's plans to double the number of Israeli citizens living in the Jordan Valley by 2026 could be considered a de facto annexation of most of the occupied Palestinian territories."
"We call on all parties to refrain from any steps that have the potential to escalate tensions in the region and prejudge the outcome of direct Palestinian-Israeli negotiations on a set of final status issues," Zakharova stressed.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Creative Commons
Based on materials from TASS