Naftali Bennett, right-wing Israeli minister of military affairs, said on Sunday that the new settlement, which will be constructed at the site of a wholesale market complex, will “double” the number of settlers in al-Khalil. Iran News covers the report.

Under the construction project, the old market stalls will be demolished to make way for new shops and residential buildings.

Currently, around 800 settlers live in al-Khalil guarded by hundreds of Israeli soldiers. The Israeli settlers are surrounded by some 200,000 Palestinians.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, OIC Secretary-General Yusuf bin Ahmed al-Uthaymeen said the Israeli decision “is a flagrant breach of the international law, Geneva Accord, and relevant UN resolutions and undermines peace efforts.”

He also urged the international community and the UN Security Council to take “resolute action” towards ending the Tel Aviv regime’s settlement policies.

Earlier, Saeb Erekat, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) secretary-general, said the project was the “first tangible result of the US decision to legitimize colonization.”

He was referring to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s announcement last month that the establishment of settlements in the occupied West Bank “is not per se inconsistent with international law.”

Additionally, the Gaza-based Hamas resistance movement said the new settlement project was the result of “growing American support” for Israel, warning that it will “solidify the occupation’s policy of aggression on Palestinian lands.”

The Israeli anti-settlement group Peace Now also condemned the al-Khalil settlement plan as an addition to the “ugliest face of Israel’s control in the occupied territories.”

“In order to maintain the presence of 800 settlers among a quarter of a million Palestinians, entire streets in Hebron are closed to Palestinians, denying them freedom of movement,” it said in a statement.

More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds.

Emboldened by US President Donald Trump’s all-out support, Israel has stepped up its settlement construction activities in defiance of UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which pronounced settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds “a flagrant violation under international law.”

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In a statement on Thursday, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi roundly condemned the announcement by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo saying that US approach to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank is that they are not “inconsistent with international law.”

The Iranian spokesman also described the declaration as a testimony to the US government’s partnership in the occupation of the Palestinian territories, in Israeli crimes against Palestine, and in occupation and violation of the sovereignty of Palestine’s neighboring countries.

The US officials’ measures and remarks on Palestine amount to a clear violation of international law, Mousavi added, urging international organizations to oppose and counter them.

Palestine belongs to Palestinians, the spokesman reiterated, saying, “The Zionist regime is a usurping and occupying regime and the only solution to the Palestinian crisis would be holding a referendum involving the (genuine) people of the Palestinian land.”

He went on to advise Pompeo to set himself free from the “18th century-style thoughts” according to which owners of power placed themselves above the law and international regulations.

“In the 21st century, neither is the US a dominant power, nor would anyone accept a violation of international law by owners of power,” the Iranian spokesperson concluded.

In comments on Monday, Pompeo rejected a 1978 State Department legal opinion that considered the Israeli settlements in Palestine “inconsistent with international law.”

“Calling the establishment of civilian settlements inconsistent with international law has not advanced the cause of peace… The hard truth is that there will never be a judicial resolution to the conflict, and arguments about who is right and who is wrong as a matter of international law will not bring peace,” said Pompeo.

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