The Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu has approved the construction of at least 3500 units in illegal Israeli colonies in the occupied West Bank, mainly in Maale Adumim, east of occupied Jerusalem.
The Israeli Army Radio said Finance Minister Bezalel Yoel Smotrich said the government has already approved more than 15.000 licenses for construction in the West Bank.
A week ago, Smotrich said he would work on continuing the expansion of Israel’s illegal colonies in the occupied West Bank, including in and around occupied Jerusalem, despite international pressure.
Smotrich is part of the fanatic, largely colonialist settlers-led Israeli government that denies the very basic rights of the Palestinians and encourages the ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip.
Maale Adumim illegal colony was built large areas of illegally confiscated Palestinian lands in Al-Ezariya and Abu Dis town and is only about 7 kilometers from Jerusalem.
All of Israel’s colonies in the occupied West Bank, including those in and around occupied East Jerusalem, are illegal under International Law, the Fourth Geneva Convention in addition to various United Nations and Security Council resolutions. They also constitute war crimes under International Law.
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states: “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” It also prohibits the “individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory”.
Also, Article 8(2) of the Rome Statute, ‘the transfer, directly or indirectly, by an occupying power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies, or the deportation or transfer of all or parts of the population of the occupied territory within or outside this territory’ are unlawful.
