Hamas: PA practices in West Bank encouraged Israel to expand settlements

KHAN YOUNIS, (PIC)-- The Hamas Movement said Monday that the Israeli intent to build 1,450 housing units in the West Bank is the outcome of the efforts made by ex-PA chief Mahmoud Abbas and his militia to eliminate the Palestinian resistance. In a press release, Hamas spokesman Hammad Al-Ruqub stated that such Israeli crimes of settlement and land annexation would not have happened if Abbas’s militia had not collaborated with Israel against the resistance in the West Bank. Spokesman Ruqub highlighted that in light of the international community’s silence towards these Israeli violations, the Palestinian people are entitled to defend their rights and land by all means possible. The Israeli war ministry on Monday gave the green light to build 50 housing units in the settlement of Adam in the West Bank as a first step of a plan to build 1,450 housing units in this outpost. The Hebrew radio claimed that the expansion in this settlement was aimed to accommodate the Israeli settlers transferred from Migron settlement. It explained that the war ministry’s approval to the building of these new units came in the context of its reaction to the Israeli movement of peace now which had filed a petition with the Israeli high court demanding the evacuation of Migron settlement and not to build new units in the settlement of Adam.