Ammon News - The Palestinian Foreign Ministry on Monday cautioned against the consequences of Israel's planned approval of new settlement projects in the occupied Palestinian lands and East Jerusalem.

It noted that such designs were deferred until after US President Joe Biden's tour of the region, in a "heinous exploitation of the visit with the aim of deepening and bolstering settlements as a competitive issue in the Israeli elections."

It explained that settlements have "catastrophic risks" to the chances of achieving the two-state solution and establishing an independent, viable and contiguous Palestinian state along the borders of June 4, 1967, as cited by Biden himself in a press statement in the West Bank city of Bethlehem last week.

The ministry urged the international community and the US administration to be alert and attentive to this matter, as Biden candidly and clearly demanded a halt to unilateral actions, foremost of which is settlements.