ANKARA
Palestine's President Mahmoud Abbas warned that his country would "take steps" if Israel insisted building new settler homes in E1 area, which is between Jerusalem and the West Bank settlement of Maaleh Adumim.
"The situation has changed. The UN status upgrade has given us new opportunities and we won't be patient if Israel continues construction in E-1 which separates the West Bank's north from its south. This is our redline," Abbas told reporters during press meeting in Ankara, the Turkish capital.
Israeli government last week authorized a new plan to build 3,000 housing units in the occupied Palestinian territories after a UN voting earlier this month that raised Palestine's status to "non-member observer".
The status upgrade granted Palestine a right to take part in UN debates and possibly join institutions like the International Criminal Court.
"According to the United Nations, these lands are the lands of 'a state under occupation.' Because we have been recognized as a state. And from now, Israel will not be able to bring its citizens and settle them here as it wishes," Abbas said.
The West Bank and East Jerusalem houses nearly 500,000 Israeli citizens in more than 100 settlements built since the 1967 occupation of the territories. The settlements are illegal under international law.
