Israel setting up obstacles to harm peace bid: Palestine

RAMALLAH: The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said that Israel is putting obstacles on the ground, ahead of the upcoming visit to Israel by US Presidential Adviser Jason Greenblatt.

The ministry said in an e-mailed press statement on Sunday that “the Israeli government continues to implement its settlement schemes aiming at more Palestinian land grab, unravelling preliminary measures and bulldozing operations to bailiff thousands of new settlement units in occupied Jerusalem”.

The ministry denounced the settlement activity “that is aimed at destroying the two state solution”, reported Xinhua news agency.

Palestinian sources said that Israeli authorities have approved construction of settlement units in Palestinian towns of East Jerusalem and open new roads connecting settlements to one another, cutting off geographical contiguity of Palestinian territories.

On Saturday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeinah said that the resumed communique between the Palestinian leadership and the US administration “represents a clear message that the resolution (of the conflict) lies in the international, Arab and Palestinian legitimacy that are not illusions or projects irrelevant to the unravelling course of events”.

World powers, including the US, have condemned the Israeli settlement activity, which is considered one of the main disputes between Palestinians and Israel.

Meanwhile, Jerusalem on Monday said an anti-occupation activist from Britain was denied entry into the country.

Hugh Lanning, chairman of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), was barred from entering Israel at Ben Gurion Airport, near Tel Aviv, late on Sunday, according to a joint statement by the Population and Immigration Authority and the Strategic Affairs Ministry, Xinhua reported.

The statement said Lanning’s organisation leads a campaign for boycotts, divestments, and sanctions (BDS) against Israel.

“The organisation (PSC) works in cooperation with other organisations that work to delegitimise Israel in order to advance boycotts and other activities against Israel,” the statement said.

First launched in 2005, the Palestinian-led campaign calls for ending the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which Israel seized in 1967, and acknowledging the Palestinians refugees’ right of return to their pre-1948 lands.