RAMALLAH, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian Authority (PA) Foreign Ministry on Tuesday denounced Israel's recent settlement expansion as a "prelude" to imposing its sovereignty over the West Bank.
The ministry said in an emailed statement that Israel is escalating its settlement building activities, as one step further towards imposing its "full sovereignty over vast areas of the territories."
It accused Israel of attempting to "kill" any chances of achieving peace based on the two-state solution and undermining the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
Israeli media revealed that Israeli municipality of Jerusalem has approved two construction plans of building nearly 1,000 new settlement units in the city.
The Palestinians warned that the Israeli move would aggravate the situation by expanding Israeli occupation of the territories.
"Israeli authorities' approval of plans to open two new roads connecting isolated settlements that were built on lands privately owned by the Palestinians in the south and the north of the West Bank is part of its plan to seize control over West Bank ahead of annexing it," said Walid Assaf, head of the PA's Colonization and Settlement Resistance Committee.
Assaf warned that the road plans, which will come into effect early in June, will connect the large settlements in the north and the south of the West Bank and further isolate Palestinian villages there.
He noted that there were eight new settlements established by Israel in 2018.
