PLO describes peace talks as cover for Israeli expansion

A  member of the Executive Committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) Taysir Khaled said the approval of new Jewish settlement construction activities in East Jerusalem and the West Bank were illegal and had to stop. He said the case should be referred to the UN Security Council and The Hague tribunal. He said that the so-called peace talks should be stopped since Tel Aviv is using them as a cover to continue violating international law by continuing to build on Palestinian land. An Israeli newspaper reported earlier this week that Israeli authorities approved the building of 40 homes and a farm connecting two settlements near the Southern West Bank city of Bethlehem. However Palestinian homes continue to be destroyed as families are made homeless. In an incident that has failed to grab media attention, an Idna family was waken up at 5 am by Israeli security forces. The family was ordered to leave immediately the premises and the house was consequently demolished before the family could even gather its belongings. Furthermore the family has been sent a bill to pay for the demolition of their house. Should they fail to pay the  IS2.500 (US$700) sum, Israeli authorities have threatened to enprison the family’s youngest son. The Gelwa family now live in a tent next to the rubble on their house which was built on their land. Peace talks have consistently broken down over the past years as successive Irsaeli governments continue to build settlements in violation of every agreements signed since Oslo. The new construction approvals come shortly before representatives of the Quartet of Middle East peace mediators, comprising the United States, Russia, UN and European Union, started fruitless efforts to revive negotiations. Another Palestinian official Tuesday said Israel's approval of new settlement activities in East Jerusalem and the West Bank are "incendiary and illegal actions" and called on the UN Security Council to "redress this grave matter". Riyad Mansour, the permanent observer of Palestine to the UN, made the appeal in his letter dated to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.