The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticised attempts by illegal Israeli settlers to expand an electricity network towards a settlement outpost located in the southern town of Qasra, based south of Nablus.
It condemned the move as a larger strategy aimed at appropriating additional Palestinian land and transforming these outposts into fully established settlements.
According to Ma’an news agency, the Ministry said in a statement: “This measure aims to steal more Palestinian land, legitimise those outposts and turn them into self-contained settlements, as an integral part of the racist colonial scheme.”
The Ministry further slammed Israel’s escalating violence against the Palestinians, noting that UN agencies have recorded 591 settler-related incidents resulting in Palestinian casualties and property damage so far this year.
Figures, provided earlier this month by Israeli NGO, Peace Now, revealed that Israel’s far-right government has set an all-time record this year for approval of illegal settlement construction in the Occupied West Bank and for the legitimisation of illegal outposts.
The group stated that, within the initial seven months of this year, a greater number of outposts have been granted legal status than in the entirety of previous years.
It comes after the occupation authorities announced their intention to accelerate the approval process for settlement construction in June, in addition to giving Israeli Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich even more authority to expand illegal settlements.
Estimates indicate that about 700,000 settlers are living in 164 illegal settlements and 116 illegal outposts in the Occupied West Bank. The United Nations considers all Israeli settlement activities illegal.
