RAMALLAH, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Saeb Erekat, secretary general of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee stated on Tuesday that Israel is now controlling 95 percent of the West Bank's Jordan Valley.
He said in an emailed press statement that 12,700 Israeli settlers exploit 95 percent of the territory, while 55,000 Palestinians are living in the remaining 5 percent.
"Intensifying settlement in the Jordan Valley area in the West Bank and the Dead Sea is part of the Israeli annexation plan and stealing the Palestinian land which all are part of the American Deal of the Century," said Erekat.
Israeli settlement activity is considered illegal under international law and has been one of the major hurdles to the stalled peace talks between Palestine and Israel since 2014.
However, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced in November 2019 that the U.S. government will no longer consider Israel's West Bank settlements "inconsistent" with international law, in a move believed to further dim the future of the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
