Israeli Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, stated Thursday that the government of Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, will resume its settlement activities on a large scale directly after the 10-month freeze ends. His statements came during an academic speech in Ariel illegal settlement, in the northern part of the occupied West Bank.
Lieberman stated that Israel carried several measures of what he called ‘good will’ towards the Palestinians, and cannot make any more ‘concessions’.
He indirectly threatened measures against the Palestinian Authority, headed by president Mahmoud Abbas, when he said that “the Palestinian Authority knows very well that it cannot survive without Israeli aid”.
The Israeli FM added that the Palestinians must decide whether they want to resume peace talks with Israel or not.
All Israeli settlements, including large settlement blocs, are illegal, violate the International Law and the Fourth Geneva Conventions.
The Palestinians are demanding a full Israeli withdrawal from Palestinians territories Israel occupied during the 1967 six-day war. This includes all of the
West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and occupied East Jerusalem.
Even though Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005 after evacuating all settlements in the coastal region, Gaza remained totally dependent on Israel as its controls the main Erez Terminal and all of its commercial crossings.
The ongoing Israeli siege on Gaza, imposed by Israel more than three years ago, led to extreme poverty and caused the death of hundreds of patients who were not allowed out of the coastal region for medical treatment elsewhere.
Hospitals and medical centers in the Gaza Strip lack the basic supplies and equipment due to the ongoing siege.
