Palestinian diplomat: Israeli settlements policy threat to Middle East peace

Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour complained that the New Year has started with yet another Israeli announcement to build more settlements in the occupied land.He urged the Security Council to send a "clear" message that such activities are illegal and will have consequences if they lead to the collapse of the peace talks."Despite the ardent hopes that this New Year will bring long-awaited Israeli-Palestinian peace," he said in identical letters to UN officials, including Council President, Jordan, addressed late on Friday, that the Israeli Government declared earlier in the day its plan to build more than 1, 400 new residential units in settlements in Occupied East Jerusalem and elsewhere in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. "It is high time for all concerned parties in the international community, including the Security Council, to respond to such contemptuous decisions by Israel with clarity and firmness. This response must be based on international law and relevant United Nations resolutions, which deem all such colonization activities to be illegal," Mansour said."The (Council) message to Israel must be clear: settlement activities are illegal and must cease, there will be consequences for continued pursuit of these illegal actions, and Israel will be held responsible should such actions lead to collapse of peace efforts and the two-State solution," he stressed. Although intensive peace efforts are underway, he complained, Israel persists with its "reckless settlement campaign" throughout the Occupied State of Palestine, in flagrant violation of international law and in total contradiction to the objectives of the negotiations to bring an end to the Israeli occupation."Such reckless ... illegal and provocative actions undermine the international and regional attempts to facilitate and advance the negotiations between the parties, including the tireless efforts of US Secretary of State John Kerry, and render the negotiations meaningless," Mansour said in his letters.He quoted "Peace Now", an Israeli NGO monitoring settlement activities, as saying in a reaction earlier in the day that "these actions are an indication that this (Israeli) government is not serious about the (peace) process, in fact they are fooling the Israeli public, the Palestinian leadership, the US Secretary of State, and the international community."