On Wednesday, Jordan has expressed strong condemnation of the Israeli occupation government’s recent decision to approve the establishment of a new colonial outpost on a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the southern part of the occupied West Bank, specifically near Bethlehem.
Dr. Sufyan Qudah, the spokesperson of Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, slammed the actions and policies of the occupation government, aiming at reenforcing the illegal occupation of Palestinian territories through the expansion and “legitimization” of colonies.
The latest decision to authorize a new settlement on a designated and endangered UNESCO World Heritage Site near Bethlehem represents a serious violation of international humanitarian law, United Nations resolutions, and conventions aimed at protecting cultural property and heritage.
He emphasized Jordan’s firm opposition to these Israeli occupation actions, which contravene international law, United Nations Security Council resolutions, and UNESCO directives.
Sufyan also highlighted that such actions jeopardize the potential for achieving peace based on a two-state solution, and called on Israel, as the occupying power, to fulfill its obligations under international law and to cease its colonial settlement activities that aim to appropriate Palestinian land and displace its people.
The Jordanian official urged the United Nations and the international community to take prompt and effective measures to stop these unilateral and unlawful Israeli actions, which, alongside the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the serious escalation in the West Bank, are exacerbating the situation in the region, for which Israel bears full responsibility.
Also Wednesday, Israeli soldiers carried out the demolition of four residences, a tent, and two facilities in the Masafer Yatta area, located south of Hebron, in the occupied West Bank’s southern part.
On Wednesday morning, illegal paramilitary Israeli colonizers stole at least 200 sheep from Palestinian Bedouins in the Ras Al-Awja community, north of Jericho, in the northeastern West Bank.
Also, Israeli bulldozers demolished five Palestinian homes, a gas station, and a carwash facility in the At-Tour town, located to the east of occupied Jerusalem, in the West Bank.
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, and 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.”
