Top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat condemned on Friday Israel’s recent decision to expand the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Homa, saying Netanyahu’s government is “determined to invest solely in the entrenchment of the occupation, rather than peace.”

Erekat called Israel’s approval of the construction of 900 new homes illegal, saying that by going ahead with its plan to build “Israel makes clear its intention to turn this occupation into an effective annexation.”

The Palestinian negotiator went on to say that all Israeli settlements in the occupied territories go against both International Law and International Humanitarian Law, adding that continued expansion is “a flagrant violation of the International Roadmap, which was consecrated in UN Security Council resolution 1515”

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