United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov said the new Israeli law legalizing dozens of unlawful West Bank settler outposts crossed a "very thick red line".

    Mladenov said the legislation "opens the floodgates to the potential annexation of the West Bank." If Israel moves to strengthen its control over the area, it would jeopardize the internationally backed idea of establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel as part of a negotiated peace deal, he said.

    Arab News reported, according to the law, Palestinian landowners would be compensated either with money or alternative land, even if they did not agree to give up their property.

    It is expected to trigger a number of challenges in the Supreme Court, while members of the international community have already begun to condemn it, Mladenov added.

Source: QNA