The Palestinian agency said seven players had been waiting at the Erez crossing, on the border between Israel and Gaza, for permission to enter since the day before the match.
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Kirby then cited plans for several hundred additional units in other areas, including Ma’ale Adumim, Har Homa, Ramot and Pisgat Ze’ev.
“We are witnessing a signal from the Americans to Netanyahu that they do not like what they see”, said Hagit Ofran, director of settlement watch for the left-wing Israeli human rights organization Peace Now.
Palestinian authorities said they are also planning an worldwide campaign to raise awareness of Israeli restrictions, according to the report in Sawa.
“These steps by Israeli authorities are the latest examples of what appears to be a steady acceleration of settlement activity that is systematically undermining the prospects for a two-state solution”, Kirby said.
The anger of Palestinian residents of Jerusalem has increased in the last three years after the Israeli authorities allowed increasing numbers of Jewish settlers to storm the Al-Aqsa mosque.
Israel refused to let six players and the coach of Shabab Khan Yunis cross its territory to the West Bank for the Palestinian Cup final, said Jibril al-Rajoub, president of the Palestinian Football Association.
During the same period, more than 200 Palestinians have been killed.
Moscow is concerned with Israel’s plans to build new settlements in the West Bank, which is likely to hinder the resumption of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday.
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Israeli settlements in east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank are viewed as illegal under global law. “Pinwheels represent the childhood that was stolen, and the hope that the spirit of these children will continue in the Palestinian resistance movement”.
