Jordan condemns Israel’s decision approving new colony near Bethlehem

AMMAN: Jordan today condemned the Israeli occupation government's decision approving the construction of a new colonial outpost near the southern occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem. Sufian Qudah, official spokesperson for Jordan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, decried the occupation government's decisions and measures which consolidate the occupation of the Palestinian territories by the expansion and legalization of colonies, the most recent of which is the decision green-lighting a new colony on a UNESCO World Heritage Site near Bethlehem, in flagrant and grave breach of international humanitarian law, the United Nations resolutions, as well as the conventions on the protection of cultural property and heritage. He affirmed Jordan's absolute rejection of such Israeli occupation measures that violate all the rules of international law, the United Nations Security Council resolutions and the UNESCO's resolutions, while stressing that such measures undermine the prospects for achieving peace based on the two-state solution. He stressed the need for Israel, the occupying power, to comply with its responsibilities under international law and halt its colonial-settlement schemes designed to take over Palestinians' land and drive them out. He reiterated the call for the UN and worldwide states to take immediate and effective action to halt unilateral and illegitimate Israeli measures, which, combined with the ongoing genocidal war on the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, push the region further along the spiral of deterioration and escalation, for which Israel is fully responsible. Source: Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA