Hamas, PA slam Israeli moves aimed at expanding West Bank settlements 

JERUSALEM — The Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Islamic resistance movement Hamas have condemened new measures adopted by Israel on Sunday aimed at exapanding illegal settlement activity in the occupied West Bank.Hamas said the new decisions approved by Israel’s security cabinet earlier on Sudnay are intended to swallow up all Palestinian land and displace its original inhabitants.The Israeli decisions include repealing a Jordanian-era law barring the sale of Palestinian land to Jews, unsealing land ownership records, and transferring building permit authority in a Hebron settlement bloc from the Palestinian municipality to Israel’s civil administration, Israeli media reported.Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said in a statement that the settlement-related decisions taken by Israel’s government “confirm its colonial program aimed at swallowing all Palestinian land and displacing its original inhabitants,” calling the moves a “real existential threat.”Qassem said Israel’s far-right government is seeking to expand what he described as a war of annihilation and to eliminate the Palestinian presence across all Palestinian geography.He added that the developments require practical Palestinian unity and a national response to confront Israel’s aggressive policies.Meanwhie, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s office said described the Israli decisions as “illegal, null and void,” saying that they constitute “the practical implementation of annexation and displacement plans” and violate agreements signed between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel, international law and UN resolutions, according to official news agency WAFA.The Palestinians presidency called on the international community to intervene immediately to halt the measures, which it said threaten efforts to reduce regional tensions.The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also condemned Israel’s “desperate attempts” to alter the legal status and character of the occupied Palestinian territory, calling the actions “criminal.””Israel has no sovereignty over any of the occupied Palestinian territories or cities … has no legal right to repeal or amend existing laws, including Jordanian laws and legislation that are part of the Palestinian legal system,” the ministry said.Palestinian officials have repeatedly warned that measures expanding settlements and extending Israeli civilian authority in the West Bank undermine prospects for a future Palestinian state.The UN says Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory are illegal under international law and undermine the viability of a two-state solution and has for decades called for an end to settlement activity. — Agencies