Jordan condemns Israeli plans for new Jewish settlement in Hebron

AMMAN — Jordan on Monday condemned Israel’s announcement of new settlement projects in the occupied West Bank's Jabel Mukaber, Qalandia and in the Old City of Hebron, as a breach of international law and an “illegal measure that undermines peace efforts”.

Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi stressed the illegitimacy of Israeli settlements under international law, calling on the international community to shoulder its legal and moral responsibilities and put an end to Israeli settlement activities.

Safadi warned against the threat of Israeli settlements to the two-state solution which "constitutes the only way to resolve the conflict and achieve comprehensive peace".

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry exhorted the international community and UN organisations, mainly UNESCO, to “move swiftly” towards halting the Israeli decision to establish settlements at the heart of Hebron city.  

The ministry said that moving forward with the decision comprises an “outrageous” violation of international law, the Geneva Accords and international legitimacy decisions, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

On Sunday, Israel’s defence minister announced plans to build a new Jewish-only settlement in the heart of a flashpoint West Bank city on Sunday, weeks after the United States said it no longer considered such communities illegal.

The move in Hebron in the southern West Bank sparked Palestinian anger and accusations that US President Donald Trump effectively greenlighted the move.

Rightwing defence minister, Naftali Bennett, said the new development would double the Jewish population in the city, where around 800 settlers live guarded by hundreds of Israeli soldiers, surrounded by some 200,000 Palestinians.

The Defence Ministry said Bennett had instructed departments responsible for the Israeli-occupied West Bank “to notify the Hebron municipality of planning a new Jewish neighbourhood in the wholesale market complex”.

A statement from a settlers’ organisation in Hebron hailed Bennett’s decision to “bring Jewish life back to Jewish property in Hebron”, labelling it a “historic act of justice” for the Jewish people.

Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said the new project was a result of the US’ November 18th decision to no longer consider Israeli settlements illegal.

That move broke with decades of international consensus that settlements are seen as illegal under international law and a major obstacle to peace, as they are built on land the Palestinians see as part of their future state.

The Bennett plan, Erekat wrote in English on Twitter, “is the first tangible result of the US decision to legitimise colonisation”.

Israeli anti-settlement group Peace Now condemned the addition to what it called the “ugliest face of Israel’s control in the occupied territories”. 

“In order to maintain the presence of 800 settlers among a quarter of a million Palestinians, entire streets in Hebron are closed to Palestinians, denying them freedom of movement,” it said in a statement.

Israel seized the West Bank including Hebron, one of the world’s oldest cities, in 1967 in a move never recognised by the international community.