Palestinians, UN condemn approval of new site for Amona evacuees

The Palestinian Authority and the United Nations slammed the announcement of a new location near Shilo for the former residents of the evacuated community of Amona.

Israel approved the relocation of the former residents of Amona to a new site near Shilo in Samaria. The community was evacuated earlier this year due to a High Court ruling that it had been built on private Palestinian land, although no evidence was provided by the claimants.

This was an exception to the Israeli security cabinet’s decision Thursday night to limit new construction to existing communities, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s previous assurances. “I promised to create a new community and we are going to respect that commitment and create it today,” he stated ahead of Thursday’s cabinet meeting.

Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi called for international intervention, saying that the “announcement once again proves that Israel is more committed to appeasing its illegal settler population than to abiding by the requirements for stability and a just peace. It is time that all members of the international community serve the cause of peace and justice and bring Israel to cease and desist its unlawful settlement activities and illegal unilateralism once and for all.”

The Netanyahu government, Ashrawi charged, was continuing its “systematic policies of settler colonialism, apartheid and ethnic cleansing, showing a total and blatant disregard for Palestinian human rights,” Times of Israel reported.

UN chief Antonio Guterres joined in the denunciation, with his spokesperson expressing “disappointment and alarm.”

“The Secretary General has consistently stressed that there is no Plan B for Israelis and Palestinians to live together in peace and security. He condemns all unilateral actions that, like the present one, threaten peace and undermine the two-state solution,” the spokesman said.

By: World Israel News Staff