During a bleak session of the UN Security Council, the diplomat described settlement activity in that area, including East Jerusalem, as deeply alarming.

From June 11 through September 11, six thousand new housing units were approved or built and tenders were published for another thousand in settlements, he told the body.

Wennesland denounced other actions such as demolitions and confiscations along with the modification of an order implemented since the Oslo Accords, enabling a local commander to act as authority to plan and build in areas transferred to the Palestinian Authority.

“Israeli policies and practices are systematically altering the land in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), creating dangerous dynamics and an existential threat to the two-state solution,” warned the envoy before the 15-member body.

This, he said, has no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation of international law, of Council resolution 2334 and the recent advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

For his part, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, denounced the continued violations of international law by Israel, which “claims for itself all the guarantees granted by international law and the Charter of the United Nations, while rejecting and violating all obligations.”

The Council’s role is to uphold international law, not to modify it to adapt it to Israeli violations or sacrifice the UN Charter to please the country, the diplomat denounced.

The text, presented by Palestine and co-sponsored by dozens of countries, including Cuba, received 124 votes in favor, 14 against and 43 abstentions.

Ied/lam/ebr