Palestine condemns the occupation's decision to transfer law enforcement powers in the settlements to the occupation police

Ramallah, Aug 14 (KUNA) -- Palestinian Vice President Hussein al-Sheikh on Friday condemned the decision by Israeli Occupation Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to transfer law enforcement authority in Israeli settlements built on occupied Palestinian territory to the Israeli police.

In a press statement, al-Sheikh said, “This step constitutes a blatant violation of international law, resolutions of international legitimacy, and signed agreements, and represents a new attempt to impose Israeli law and sovereignty on the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and to cement the illegal annexation of Palestinian lands.”

He stressed that settlement activity in all its forms is illegal, and that Israel has no sovereignty over any part of the Palestinian territory occupied in 1967. Al-Sheikh called on the international community, and the UN Security Council in particular, to assume their responsibilities, halt these unilateral and dangerous Israeli measures, and compel Israel to comply with resolutions of international legitimacy and international law.

Occupation media had previously reported that the Israeli Occupation Minister had ordered the military to prepare a plan to transfer all law enforcement authority in civil matters concerning Israeli settlers in the West Bank to the police force. This would mean shifting the treatment of settlers from an “occupation military” framework to a “civil” framework similar to that applied within Israel, representing a significant step toward the de facto annexation of the West Bank and the imposition of legal sovereignty over it.

In a related development, settlers have continued for the sixth consecutive day to besiege three homes in the town of Qusra, south of Nablus, after cutting off water and electricity to the area, blocking dirt roads, and preventing residents from leaving. Israeli occupation forces prevented foreign solidarity activists from reaching the besieged homes, which house 15 people, including two children.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa has ordered relevant authorities to provide all possible support to bolster the resilience of the people of Qusra and other targeted Palestinian areas, and to intensify movements and diplomatic contacts at the international level to pressure for an end to the escalating crimes committed by the occupation against Palestinians.

The Prime Minister’s Office stated in a bulletin that Mustafa had spoken by phone with Qusra Municipality Mayor Abdul Azeem Wadi to inquire about the situation in the town amid terrorist settler attacks and the siege of several homes, which are protected by occupation forces. (End) N.Q./A.M.S.