By KUNA,
Gaza : A Palestinian official on Tuesday sounded the alarm about an Israeli plan to carry out a mammoth settlement project in the West Bank extending from the occupied city of Jerusalem all the way to the Dead Sea.
Preceded by the expulsion of Palestinians from Jerusalem, the project will surely divide the West Bank into cantons or territorial subdivisions, thus blocking an independent Palestinian state, Yasser Abd Rabu, secretary of the Political Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said.
The Quartet convened in New York on Monday, calling on both Palestinian and Israeli sides to continue peace parleys for an all-out settlement.
However, Abd Rabu disparaged the call as “meaningless” for the time being as no concrete steps were decided to halt Jewish settlement activities.
“Unless there are earnest steps to stop settlement activities, all such calls by the Quartet, the UN Security Council, or other agencies become meaningless,” he said.
He added that a congruous Palestinian state couldn’t be established in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with Jerusalem as its capital unless Israel stopped its settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories.