Palestine decides to appeal to UN agencies, international courts over Israeli settlement issue

RAMALLAH: Palestine has decided to appeal to United Nations (UN) agencies and international courts to stop the Israeli settlement plans and other measures in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported on Monday.

The decision was made during a joint meeting of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation and the central committee of the Fatah party, according to the report.

The meeting was chaired by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Sunday night. Leaders of Palestinian factions and chiefs of various security apparatuses attended the meeting.

A statement issued at the end of the meeting said that the Palestinian leadership has decided to address all the world’s leaders and appeal to international agencies against the Israeli settlements in Palestine, said WAFA.

“The decision was made to urge the world to take proper measures against the Israeli settlement and other hostile actions in Palestine,” the statement said, adding that “Palestine is to call for ensuring international protection to the Palestinian people.”

On Sunday, media reported that Israel has issued tenders for the construction of around 1,355 new housing units in the existing West Bank settlements.

Israeli settlements are the thorniest issue in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and one of the main reasons for the failure of the last round of direct peace negotiations between the two sides in 2014.

Israel occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which are claimed by the Palestinians, in the 1967 Middle East war and has controlled them ever since.