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Israel's settlement activities push toward "apartheid" state: Palestine FM

Xinhua, September 5, 2016 Adjust font size:

Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah on Monday accused Israel of moving toward an "apartheid" state through its settlement activities.

"Israel's settlement expansion and land confiscation is ending a two-state solution and pushing toward a state that practices apartheid system," Hamdallah said in a statement following his meeting with Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

He stressed the Palestinian commitment to the two-state solution and the peaceful channels to realize the establishment of an independent Palestinian state within 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

He urged the international community to exercise pressure on Israel to end its control over area C to allow Palestinians to utilize its natural resources, and to lift the siege on Gaza.

According to the interim Oslo Accords signed between the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and Israel in 1993, the West Bank is divided into three zones: A, B and C, with area A being under Palestinian control, B under Israeli security coordination and Palestinian administrative control and C under full Israeli control.

Israeli settlement construction has been one of the thorny issues in the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations.

United States-sponsored peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians have remained stalled since April 2014. They lasted for nine months with no tangible results achieved.

The Australian foreign minister is on a short visit to Israel and Palestine.

She met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Sunday, according to the Israeli public radio. Endit