2025-03-30T14:58:57+00:00
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Shafaq News/ On Sunday, Hamas condemned the Israeli Cabinet’s approval of a new settlement project in occupied East Jerusalem, describing it as a “strategic escalation” to consolidate control and displace Palestinians.
In a statement, Hamas labeled the plan as part of a broader effort to alter the city’s demographics, urging Palestinians in Jerusalem and the West Bank to escalate resistance “by all means.”
The Cabinet approved, on March 29, a proposal by Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz to annex the Ma’ale Adumim settlement to Jerusalem. The plan includes a 300-million-shekel road network linking Israeli settlements to the Zaytouna crossing and cutting off connectivity between the northern and southern West Bank.
A bypass road will also connect the Palestinian towns of Al-Eizariya and Az-Za’ayyem.
The decision is part of Israel’s broader settlement expansion policy in the occupied territories, which continues to draw international criticism and complicate efforts toward a two-state solution.
Earlier, the Cabinet authorized the formal recognition of 13 settler outposts as independent settlements. The wider initiative includes the construction of tens of thousands of housing units, expansion of infrastructure, and land appropriation under public use claims.