It charges that since July 1, Israeli authorities have advanced plans for more than 1,000 housing units in East Jerusalem, annexed in 1981, and 735 housing units in the West Bank.
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The Quartet, formed in 2002, has urged Israel to stop building settlements and urged the Palestinians to cease violence.
An Israeli soldier stands guard next to Palestinian workers who were transported out of the Tekoa settlement, south of al-Quds (Jerusalem), January 18, 2016.
“It is hard to read in these actions a genuine intention to work towards a viable two-state solution”, Mladenov said. “This appears to reinforce a policy, carried out over decades, that has enabled over half a million Israelis to settle in territory that was occupied militarily in 1967”.
The Prime Minister’s Office of Israel rejected Mladenov’s contentions, saying in a statement his remarks “distort history and global law and push peace farther away”.
Keyes said that it is not the presence of Jews in the West Bank and Jerusalem, where they have lived for thousands of years, that is a barrier to peace. Rather, it is the unceasing efforts to deny that historical connection and a refusal to recognize that Jews are not foreign to Judea.
Israel annexed east Jerusalem – a move that is not recognized internationally – and maintains a almost 50-year military occupation of the West Bank.
The Palestinians want all of the territories back from Israel for a future independent state.
“We are deeply concerned by the government of Israel’s announcement today to advance plans for over 500 new settlement units in the West Bank”, the official said.
“We need actions more than statements, ” Husam Zomlot said in an emailed comment.
The Palestinian National Authority presidency considered Netanyahu’s statements a clear violation to worldwide law and diminishing to regional and global efforts for achieving peace.
In a briefing to the Security Council on Monday, U.N. Mideast envoy Nicolay Mladenov said that settlement expansion by the Israelis is among the biggest obstacles to peace with the Palestinians.
Israel approved on Wednesday 284 new housing units in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank at a time of heightened worldwide concern over a construction drive on land Palestinians seek for a state.
“We are ready to participate in any regional or worldwide initiative with the objective of a comprehensive and fair solution”, the president’s spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeina, said in a statement, the French news agency AFP reported on Monday.
Mr. Mladenov also drew attention to a almost $100 million shortfall in the core budget of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which would affect the agency’s key services for vulnerable Palestine refugees throughout the region.
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All Israeli settlements are illegal under global law but Tel Aviv continues to defy calls to stop the settlement expansions in the occupied Palestinian territories.
