Asalla Abu Khader of the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees talks about the resistance to Israeli attacks and the decades-long policy by the Zionist state to bring about demographic changes in the occupied territories

The Judea and Samaria law of 2017, named after the Hebrew names of occupied West Bank territory, would have given legal status to close to 4,000 Jewish settler homes in the occupied West Bank

In Qalqilya in the northern West Bank, Israeli security forces on Monday violently attacked a peaceful Palestinian protest march against the forceful seizure of land by Israel for the purpose of construction of illegal Jewish settlement near Qalqilya city.

Israel plans to construct close to 2,000 more settler housing units in occupied Palestinian territories, in contravention of international law. Currently, more than 650,000 illegal Israeli settlers live in these settlements

While the decision has been welcomed by Palestinians as a step towards justice, Israel has condemned the ICC announcement, calling it ‘anti-Semitic’

The move by Israel comes just days after the US declared a shift in its policy, wherein it no longer considers the Jewish settlements in occupied Palestinian territories as illegal