The Arab League on Sunday condemned Israel’s announcement of new construction in the Givat Hamatos and Har Homa neighborhoods in Jerusalem.
In a statement quoted by the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) official Wafa news agency, the Arab League Assistant Secretary General for Palestine and Occupied Arab Territories Saeed Abu Ali, denounced the Israeli plan aimed “at establishing a settlement neighborhood on the lands of the former Qalandia Airport in Jerusalem.”
"This announcement comes within the framework of the continuation and escalation of the Israeli aggression against the rights and existence of the Palestinian people, with the encouragement and care of the US administration, in line with the Deal of the Century," the Arab League official said.
He stressed that this “illegal colonial settlement plan”, which comes in the framework of the electoral campaign for the Israeli far right, will “completely isolate East Jerusalem from the West Bank.”
Abu Ali added that the Israeli plans are meant to “perpetuate the apartheid system, undermine East Jerusalem's geographical contiguity, and destroy the principle of a two-state solution.”
He called on the international community to intervene urgently to enforce the relevant Security Council resolutions, especially Resolution No. 2334 of 2016, noting that Israel is undermining the international system.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu made the announcement on the new construction this past Thursday together with Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion. The construction approved includes 3,000 housing units in Jerusalem's Givat Hamatos and 2,200 housing units in the city's Har Homa neighborhood.
On Friday, France and Germany both condemned the new construction.
The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, issued a similar condemnation on Saturday, warning that “[s]uch steps would be deeply detrimental to a two-state-solution.”
The PA blasted Netanyahu’s announcement as well. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas, said that “Netanyahu’s insistence to build thousands of new settler units on the territories of the Palestinian state is a systematic destruction of the two-state solution.”
Abu Rudeineh urged the international community to immediately intervene to stop Israel’s “madness aimed to impose the policy of fait accompli.”