'Settlers in the West Bank bring an end to two state solution'

Some 651,000 Israeli settlers lived in 185 illegal settlements and 220 unauthorised locations in the West Bank and Jerusalem at the start of 2015, representing 21 per cent of the area’s total population and making the “two state solution unachievable”, a senior Fatah member warned.

In his newly released book entitled “Israeli settlements and the erosion of the two-state solution”, Fatah Central Committee member Mohammed Shtayyeh said there were 6.1 million Jews living in historical Palestine, with the number of Palestinians reaching the same figure in the same year, adding that in 2020 the Palestinians will make up to 53 per cent of the population of historical Palestine.

According to Shtayyeh: “Israel must choose either the acceptance of the two state solution, or the erosion of it and slipping into a one state situation in which Israel becomes a de facto and a de jure apartheid state. This will change the dynamics of the conflict and the dynamics of a solution.”

“Ultimately all the settlements should be dismantled; however, settlements should be stopped all over the West Bank, including Jerusalem, in any political initiative without accepting any false pretences such as temporary cessation, cessation excluding natural growth of population, and cessation except for outposts; all of which are excuses to throw dust in the eyes of the international public,” he said, stressing that the Israeli government has the ability to take the required measures in order to stop the incentives and privileges granted to settlers.

Shtayyeh said settlement products should be boycotted, while settlers should be stopping from accessing Europe and America, in an effort to stop European and American passport holders from living in illegal settlements.