Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have both expressed support for a two-state solution, but the report warns that “continuing on the current course will make this prospect increasingly remote”.
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Israel barred the Hebron governor on Sunday from entering Israel after he visited the family of Mohammed Nasser Tarayra.
The extraordinary measures include locking down the entire Hebron district, home to 700,000 people, Netanyahu said.
The punitive demolition was carried out against the Assaf and Abu Habsa families as punishment for stab attacks carried out by two young members of the families previous year.
According to Israeli media sources, the approval of the 800 housing units came in the aftermath of an armed attack which targeted an Israeli vehicle near Hebron last Friday, which resulted in the killing of an Israeli settler and the injury of two others.
B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization, likened the security measures to collective punishment on Palestinians in Hebron. Hundreds attended her funeral Thursday evening in Hebron, a city with long-standing tensions between Israelis and Palestinians.
The document slams Israel’s settlement policy, accusing Israel of “steadily eroding the viability of the two-state solution”, while at the same time calling on the Palestinian leadership to restrain Palestinians from instigating terror.
The village of Bani Naim, Tarayrah’s hometown, is under full closure Ha’aretz reports with only limited movement permitted for humanitarian purposes, while less restrictive movement in and out of other villages has been reported. He also said security forces increase their presence on roads leading to settlements.
During Monday’s demolitions, riots erupted and Palestinian demonstrators opened fire on soldiers, the army said.
More than a dozen arrests of Palestinians believed to be involved in violence have been carried out in the past few days.
According to the report, 560 units will be built in the settlement of Maale Adumim in the occupied West Bank near East Jerusalem.
A report released on Friday by the so-called Quartet – United States, European Union, United Nations and Russian Federation – called on Israel to stop its policy of building settlements on occupied land and restricting Palestinian development.
The most recent round of violence between Palestinians and Israel, dubbed the “knife Intifada (uprising)” was triggered by unrest at the al-Aqsa Mosque, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, in Jerusalem.
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“The group of four identify, “continued violence, terrorist attacks against civilians and incitement to violence; settlement construction and expansion; and the Palestinian Authority’s lack of control in Gaza”, as barriers to an enduring peace”.
