The land is near Jordan in an area where Israel already has many settlement farms built on land Palestinians seek for a state.
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The statement came a day after Foreign Minister Stephane Dion was criticized for saying Palestinian initiatives toward statehood in global forums and continued Israeli settlements were unhelpful. “They rightly raise fundamental questions about Israel’s commitment to a two-state solution”, he added, referring to the internationally backed plan for two States, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace within secure borders.
Ban, however, reminded the Security Council that to overcome the political impasse between Israelis and Palestinians, envoys from the Middle East Quartet – comprising the European Union, Russia, the United States and the United Nations – met Israeli and Palestinian officials on December 17, 2015.
Mr. Ban condemned Palestinian stabbings, vehicle attacks and shootings against and noted that clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces continue to claim lives.
“The comments of the UN Secretary General encourage terror”, Netanyahu said.
Ban added that “Palestinian frustration is growing under the weight of a half century of occupation and the paralysis of the peace process”.
In it, Dion affirms Canada’s long-held position that it would like to see a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, calling Canada a steadfast ally and friend of Israel.
“The Palestinian murders don’t want to build a state – they want to destroy a state and they say this publicly”, Netanyahu said.
“They want to murder Jews everywhere and they state that proudly”.
He also announced he would revoke the work permits of the attackers’ relatives, which allow them to be employed in the settlements or in Israel.
Ban also said he was “deeply troubled” by reports that the Israeli government had approved plans for more than 150 new homes in “illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank”.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, said Washington strongly opposes settlement activity.
The move marks the end of an informal construction freeze in the Palestinian territory that lasted 18 months, the NGO said.
US-backed peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel collapsed in April 2014 amid bitter mutual recriminations.
There are now about 550,000 Jewish settlers living in the West Bank and East Jerusalem combined, according to Israeli government and think-tank statistics.
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The Conservatives, who lost the October election to the Liberals, said that by omission, the statement “equates such terrorist attacks with Israeli settlement construction”.
