Israeli occupation authorities embarked today on the construction of 164 housing units in the illegal settlement of Neve Daniel, illegally built on Palestinians’ land near the city of Bethlehem, south of the occupied West Bank, local sources said.
Hasan Burejiya, director of the office of the Segregation Wall and Colonization Resistance Commission in Bethlehem said that the new units will be built on lands belonging to Palestinian citizens from the nearby villages of Nahalin and al-Khader.
He said Israeli authorities have been making use of the ongoing coronavirus lockdown to illegally size more land and build more housing units in the illegal settlements.
Israeli settlement activities in occupied Palestine are illegal in international law, and have been the subject of condemnations by the world countries over the past years.
The international community considers the establishment of Israeli settlements in the Israeli-occupied territories illegal on one of two bases: that they are in violation of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, or that they are in breach of international declarations.
The United Nations Security Council, the United Nations General Assembly, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Court of Justice and the High Contracting Parties to the Convention have all affirmed that the Fourth Geneva Convention applies to Israeli settlements.
