Guterres: Colonization is illegal and Israel’s decision on the West Bank threatens the two-state solution

NEW YORK, Feb. 17 (YPA) -UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the Israeli government’s decision to turn land in the occupied West Bank into what it calls “state property.”

This came in statements made by the UN Secretary-General’s spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, on Monday evening during the daily press briefing.

Dujarric said, “I can say that the Secretary-General (Guterres) condemns the Israeli government’s decision on February 15 to resume the procedures for registering land in Area C of the occupied West Bank.”

He warned that the resumption of land registration procedures in Area C could lead to Palestinians being deprived of their property and poses a risk of expanding Israel’s control over the land in the area.

The UN official considered the decision and Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territories to be illegal and destabilizing, urging the Israeli government to cancel it.

Dujarric also conveyed Guterres’ warning that “the current path on the ground” undermines the prospects for a two-state solution, reaffirming that all Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the associated system, “lack any legal legitimacy.”

@E.Y.M