Hamas: We Stand Against Israel’s Settlement Plans to Preserve Islamic Identity of al-Quds

Sunday, 19 June 2022 3:05 PM

Israeli security forces fire tear gas at Palestinians gathering to protest against a High Court decision to evict Palestinian communities from Fire Zone 918, near the West Bank Israeli settlement of Mitzpe Yair in the southern district of al-Khalil (Hebron), on June 10, 2022. (File photo by AFP)

The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, has condemned Israel’s plans to build more settlements in the occupied Palestinian lands, saying the resistance will counter such plans in order to preserve the Islamic identity of the occupied city of al-Quds.

In a Sunday statement, the movement condemned Israel’s plan to build a new settlement that would separate al-Masara and Bab al-Amud neighborhoods of the occupied East al-Quds, describing it as a step toward the Judaization of the occupied city.

“We stand against [Israel’s] settlement [construction] in order to preserve the Arab and Islamic identity of al-Quds,” the movement said.

It added that the plan is also a clear violation of Islamic and Christian sanctities in the city, and its main goal is to change the historical identity of al-Quds and reduce the presence of Palestinians there.

Hamas further called on the Palestinian people and factions to voice their opposition against the new Israeli Judaization plan and resist it by all possible means.

It made clear that the Tel Aviv regime’s attempt to impose a new status quo in al-Quds will not change the Arab and Islamic identity of the holy city.

The Israeli regime has accelerated the construction of its illegal settlements in occupied al-Quds in recent years.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas have already warned that Israel’s house demolitions and its expansion of illegal settlements in al-Quds will trigger an “explosion” of the situation in the occupied territories.

Human rights activists say Israel’s settlement expansion policies amount to apartheid. However, some Arab countries have remained silent in the face of the inhumane Israeli measures.

The OIC condemns Israel’s plan for the construction of 4,000 new settler units in Masafer Yatta area, south of the occupied West Bank city of al-Khalil (Hebron).

Nearly 700,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds.

Most of the international community considers Israeli settlement construction illegal under international law and an obstacle to the so-called two-state solution to the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The UN Security Council has in several resolutions condemned the Tel Aviv regime’s settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian lands.

Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinian state with East al-Quds as its capital.