Today, Monday, Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh expressed his hope that US President-elect Joe Biden, his administration and the international community would intervene to curb Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories and protect the "two-state solution."
In his speech at the start of the weekly cabinet session in Ramallah, he said, in response to Israel's decision, yesterday, Sunday, to build 780 settlement units, "We hope that the next administration and the elected US president will make every effort to curb this settlement attack."
Shtayyeh said that Israel "is not only racing against time with the US administration, but it is also receiving the new American president with this package of settlement projects."
Shtayyeh also called for "an end to settler terror and a halt to the colonial settlement attack carried out by Israel in order to undermine the two-state solution."
British condemnation
The Palestinian Prime Minister called on the world to "stand seriously in front of its responsibilities and protect the (two-state solution) project."
The decision to build settlement units is the second this month. On January 11, Netanyahu announced approval for building 800 settlement units in the West Bank.
According to the Israeli "Peace Now" human rights movement, settlements have quadrupled during the era of US President Donald Trump, who will leave the White House with Biden assuming his duties next Wednesday.
For its part, Britain said that it was "extremely concerned" about Israel's approval to build new homes for settlers in the occupied West Bank, and warned that the move might threaten peace negotiations in the future, and called for a halt to construction.
A British Foreign Office spokesman said - in a statement - that "the settlements are illegal under international law and risk undermining the possibility of implementing the two-state solution," and called for an immediate halt to settlement construction in East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank.