Michael Lynk, the Palestinian Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, called for "global action" against the zionists' attempts to build occupation units in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

"If these further settlements steps by Israel [invaders] are left unanswered by the international community, we will be driving past the last exit on the road to annexation," Lynk added.

The last year has seen a marked rise in incidents of violence by zionists settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank. "In many cases, Israeli [zionist] forces, obligated to protect the Palestinian population under international humanitarian law, stand idly by while olive trees are destroyed, livelihoods are damaged, and even while people are injured or, at worst, killed."

"The events in the West Bank village of Al Mughayyir on 26 January are a sobering example of this extremely troubling phenomenon, where a Palestinian villager was shot dead in the presence of Israeli [zionists] settlers and soldiers," he noted.

"These incidents not only violate numerous human rights such as the rights to life, security of the person, and freedom of movement of Palestinians but also serve to expand the area of land over which Israeli settlers have control," Lynk observed.

Lynk also criticized recent moves by the Netanyahu's government to expand existing settlements near Bethlehem and Ramallah and condemned the threatened eviction of Palestinian refugees from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem, where they would be replaced by invader settlers.

"The forced transfer of protected people under occupation is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention and a war crime. It is also likely that it violates the guaranteed international rights to privacy and adequate housing," he said.

"All these measures, together with recent Knesset legislation enacted with the purpose of legalizing settlement outposts in the West Bank and to allow for the confiscation of private Palestinian property, are not only illegal, but they contribute immensely to the immeasurable hardship experienced by all those living under this endless occupation," Lynk added.

ILKHA