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AMMAN — Secretary-General of the Royal Committee for Jerusalem Affairs Abdullah Kanaan said on Wednesday that Israeli settlement expansion represents a “tool of colonial cleansing and elimination” against the Palestinian people.
Kanaan said that statements by the Israeli right-wing government led by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirm that it is a government of “colonisation, Israelisation, Judaisation and Hebraisation”, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reproted.
Kanaan also referred to remarks made by Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich in August 2025 following approval of the E1 settlement plan, in which he said that “this is an important step that effectively erases the illusion of a two-state solution”.
He noted that statistics, including Israeli figures, indicate that the current government has established or legalised around 103 settlements across the West Bank, a figure close to the total number of settlements established from the 1967 occupation until the formation of the current government, which stands at 127.
He added that international and Palestinian monitoring reports show that the number of settlements and outposts in the West Bank is significantly higher, with data from the Palestinian Colonisation and Wall Resistance Commission indicating the presence of 542 Israeli settlements and outposts across the West Bank.
Kanaan said that these developments reflect a broader political approach in which settlement expansion has become an official policy, warning that continued expansion undermines prospects for stability and peace, and stands in the way of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent state on the pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
He stressed that Israel’s disregard for international law and legitimacy, including the Geneva Conventions, the Hague Conventions and relevant United Nations resolutions, particularly UN Security Council Resolution 2334, has drawn increasing international concern.
Kanaan said that Jordan has consistently called on the international community to pressure Israel to implement these resolutions, stressing that they represent the only viable path to achieving lasting peace and international security.
He added that Jordan, under the Hashemite Custodianship of Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, will continue to support the Palestinian people, while Jordanian diplomacy will maintain efforts with Arab and international partners to promote peace and stability in the region.
