Palestine rejects Israel's new settlement plan, condemns US for not initiating a peace process

The prime minister of Palestine Mohammad Shtayyeh denounced the United States on Tuesday, July 11, for its lack of initiative in reviving the peace process with Israel.

Palestine’s foreign ministry, meanwhile, issued a press statement rejecting an Israeli plan to build 450 new settlements inside its borders. 

The peace process between Palestine and Israel has been stalled since 2014, and Israel’s settlement policy has gone against Palestine's ages-old two-state solution.

At the first Palestinian National Population Conference (PNPC) held in the West Bank city of Al-Bireh on 11 July, Shtayyeh said, “US President Joe Biden and his administration is the only US president and administration that didn't present any initiative to resolve the conflict.”

He added, "President Biden is also the only one who did not send an envoy for peace, and this US government is playing the role of a spectator in the light of the practices Israel is carrying out in the Palestinian territories." 

Meanwhile, the foreign ministry said Israel's plan is "disregarding the countries that reject the settlement" and it "aims to separate Palestinian neighbourhoods, towns and communities in Jerusalem from each other". 

Earlier on Tuesday, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Israel would build 450 housing units for Jews in East Jerusalem.

The plan for a new Jewish neighbourhood between the Palestinian villages of Umm Lisan and Jabal Mukaber in East Jerusalem is being pursued by a real-estate company run by a right-wing activist, according to the report.

In its press statement, the ministry alleged that the "Israeli government is racing against time in implementing its expansionist map of interests at the expense of the Palestinian land and deepening the annexation of Jerusalem".

Shtayyeh looked to the global community for solutions and support in his speech, saying, "The Palestinians are looking forward to a different approach from the international community... to deal with the issue of the Palestinian–Israeli conflict."

The last round of US-sponsored peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis broke down in March 2014 because of their deep divisions over Israeli settlement expansion and Palestinian statehood, the Xinhua news agency had reported.

The Palestinians hope to establish an independent state on the 1967 border, with East Jerusalem as its capital, while Israel claims the whole of Jerusalem as their "indivisible capital".

With inputs from IANS