Awad Rjoob
17 March 2026•Update: 17 March 2026
Palestine
Palestinian Foreign Minister Varsen Aghabekian Shahin said Tuesday that Israel is exploiting regional crises to intensify illegal settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.
Her remarks came during a briefing to members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the State of Palestine, where she warned that Israel is accelerating policies aimed at expanding illegal settlements and imposing permanent control over Palestinian land, according to a statement by the Palestinian Foreign Ministry.
Shahin said Israeli authorities are taking advantage of the international community’s preoccupation with regional crises to accelerate annexation efforts by expanding illegal settlements and adopting legislative and administrative measures aimed at consolidating permanent control over Palestinian territory.
She said such policies undermine the two-state solution and threaten the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, adding that illegal Israeli settlers carry out organized daily attacks targeting Palestinians and their property, including killings, physical assaults, arson attacks on homes and vehicles, destruction of agricultural land and seizure of resources, “under the direct protection of the Israeli army.”
According to the minister, seven Palestinians have been killed by illegal Israeli settlers since the start of the Israeli-US attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, bringing the death toll in the West Bank since the start of the war on Gaza in October 2023 to 42, according to Palestinian government data.
She also pointed to ongoing violations against Islamic holy sites, particularly the closure of Al-Aqsa Mosque since the start of the war on Iran and restrictions preventing worshippers from performing prayers during Ramadan, describing the measures as “a clear violation of freedom of worship.”
Shahin called on the international community to assume its legal and moral responsibilities and take practical steps to stop these violations and provide protection for the Palestinian people in line with international law and relevant international resolutions.
Since the start of the war on Gaza, attacks by the Israeli army and illegal Israeli settlers in the West Bank have killed 1,133 Palestinians and injured around 11,700 others, in addition to the arrest of about 22,000 people, according to official Palestinian figures.
*Writing by Khaled Badr in Istanbul
