{"id":25181,"date":"2026-03-18T14:59:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T14:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/25181\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T14:59:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T14:59:14","slug":"israel-using-me-crises-to-expand-w-bank-settlements-palestine-fm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/25181\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel using ME crises to expand W. Bank settlements: Palestine FM"},"content":{"rendered":"

Palestine’s top diplomat has accused Israel of exploiting regional crises to accelerate illegal settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.<\/p>\n

Speaking during a briefing to members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the State of Palestine Tuesday, Foreign Minister Varsen Aghabekian Shahin warned that Israel is accelerating policies aimed at expanding illegal settlements and imposing permanent control over Palestinian land.<\/p>\n

She said Israeli authorities are taking advantage of the international community\u2019s focus on regional crises to advance annexation efforts through settlement expansion and legislative and administrative measures.<\/p>\n

Shahin said such policies undermine the two-state solution and threaten the Palestinian people\u2019s right to self-determination.<\/p>\n

The minister added that illegal Israeli settlers carry out organized daily attacks targeting Palestinians and their property, including killings, physical assaults, arson attacks on homes and vehicles, destruction of agricultural land, and seizure of resources, “under the direct protection of the Israeli army.”<\/p>\n

Shahin also noted that seven Palestinians have been killed by illegal Israeli settlers since Feb. 28, when the U.S. and Israel launched their attacks<\/a> on Iran.<\/p>\n

She said the death toll in the West Bank since the start of the genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023 reached 42, based on Palestinian government data.<\/p>\n

The foreign minister also pointed to the ongoing violations against Islamic holy sites, including the closure of the Al-Aqsa Mosque since the start of the Iran war and restrictions preventing worshippers from performing prayers during Ramadan.<\/p>\n

Shahin described the measures as “a clear violation of freedom of worship.”<\/p>\n

She called on the international community to take legal and practical steps to stop the violations and provide protection for Palestinians in line with international law and relevant resolutions.<\/p>\n

Since the start of the Gaza war, attacks by the Israeli army and illegal settlers in the West Bank have killed 1,133 Palestinians and injured about 11,700 others, in addition to the arrest of around 22,000 people, according to official Palestinian figures.<\/p>\n

The tensions in the Middle East have escalated since the U.S. and Israel launched a joint offensive on Iran on Feb. 28, killing around 1,300 people so far, including then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Iran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel, along with Jordan, Iraq, and Gulf countries, which it says are targeting US military assets, causing casualties and damage to infrastructure while disrupting global markets and aviation.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\n The Daily Sabah Newsletter\n <\/p>\n

\n Keep up to date with what\u2019s happening in Turkey,
\n it\u2019s region and the world.\n <\/p>\n

SIGN ME UP\n <\/p>\n

\n You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
\n This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Palestine’s top diplomat has accused Israel of exploiting regional crises to accelerate illegal settlement expansion in the occupied…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25182,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[12095,37,12094,11695,5144,498],"class_list":{"0":"post-25181","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-illegal-settlements","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-israeli-occupation-of-west-bank","11":"tag-israeli-settlements","12":"tag-occupied-west-bank","13":"tag-palestine"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116250778105933816","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}