The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates “strongly condemned” the Israeli Occupation Cabinet's approval of the legalization of five outposts in the West Bank and the advancement of plans to build thousands of new “colonial units” across the West Bank.

In a statement released Friday, the Ministry expressed grave concern over the continued “Israeli” government's crime of settlement expansion and deepening apartheid, aimed at closing the door on any opportunity to realize a Palestinian state.

It held the Israeli Occupation’s government “fully and directly responsible” for the serious consequences and repercussions on the conflict and the entire region.

The Ministry affirmed that the escalating settlement activity in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is a blatant challenge to relevant international resolutions, especially Resolution 2334.

It represents an official “Israeli” disregard for the international consensus rejecting colonization as an obstacle to implementing the two-state solution – per the statement.

The Ministry called for urgent American and international intervention to halt these illegal unilateral measures, impose deterrent international sanctions on the entire colonial apartheid system, and exert real pressure on the “Israeli” government to stop settlement activities and comply with the international will for peace.