Israel threatens annexation of Palestinian land

Israel has threatened to annex the Palestinian properties on which it has built settlement blocs after the UN Security Council approved a resolution denouncing the structures as illegal.

“We should announce the immediate annexation of the settlement blocs… We should renew construction throughout the land,” Gilad Erdan, the Israeli minister for public security, from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hardline Likud Party said on Saturday.

Israel was created in 1948 after wholesale wars on Arab states. The warfare was followed by the establishment of the so-called Green Line, which marked its forcefully-seized contours.

However, in 1967, it staged further military attacks beyond the line, seizing the Palestinian territories now known as the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds. Since then, it has been dotting the lands with more than 120 settlements despite the international outcry against the unlawful activities.

Resolution 2334, which was passed on Friday, declared the settlements to be void of any “legal validity” and said their existence amounted to “a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to…a just, lasting and comprehensive peace.”

Palestinian factions in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip have collectively welcomed a United Nations Security Council resolution, with Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki describing the vote as a “victory for the Palestinian people.”