UN slams Israel’s West Bank plans

GENEVA: Israel’s plans to tighten control over the occupied West Bank, paving the way for further settlement expansion, are a step towards consolidating illegal annexation, the UN rights chief said. The plans include allowing Israelis to buy West Bank land directly, and extending greater Israeli control over areas where the Palestinian Authority exercises power. Volker Turk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the decisions by Israel’s security cabinet were the latest in a string of measures to annex Palestinian lands.
“This is yet another step by the Israeli authorities towards rendering a viable Palestinian state impossible, in violation of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination,” Turk said in a statement. “If these decisions are implemented, they will undoubtedly accelerate the dispossession of Palestinians and their forcible transfer.