Statement by UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, on settlement expansion in Givat Hamatos

 Jerusalem, 16 November 2020

“I am very concerned by the decision of the Israeli authorities yesterday to open the bidding process for the construction of Givat Hamatos.

If built, it would further consolidate a ring of settlements between Jerusalem and Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank. It would significantly damage prospects for a future contiguous Palestinian State and for achieving a negotiated two-State solution based on the 1967 lines, with Jerusalem as the capital of both states.

Settlement construction is illegal under international law and I call on the authorities to reverse this step.”

  [ENDS]