Israeli Settlement Activities Go On Despite Security Council Resolution: UN

TEHRAN (IQNA) – The UN said that Israel’s settlement activities are continuing at "at a high rate," despite demands by the Security Council for the Tel Aviv regime to end its expansions.

"Israel's illegal settlement activities have continued at a high rate, a consistent pattern over the course of the year," said the UN envoy for the Middle East Nickolay Mladenov on Monday, Press TV reported.

"Israeli officials continue to use provocative rhetoric in support of expansion," which is "is making the two-state solution increasingly unattainable," he added.

Mladenov made the remarks after an unnamed Israeli official told reporters that plans for the construction of 2,000 new settler units in the occupied West Bank are expected to be approved by the end of next week.

About 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds.

Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent state, with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital.

A UN Security Council resolution passed last year condemned all Israeli settlement construction on the occupied Palestinian territories.The landmark Resolution 2334, passed on December 23, 2016, called the Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds a "flagrant violation of international law.” The resolution also called on Israel to stop all such construction.