Ramallah: Israel’s continued expansion of colonies in the Occupied West Bank will inevitably trigger a rebellion by the Palestinian public, a Palestinian official has warned.

“Like the Intifada of 1987 and 2000, Palestinians will once against be driven to rebel against these abuses,” Tayseer Khalid, a Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) member said.

Israel held several events this week commemorating the 50th anniversary of Israel occupation of the West Bank.

At one of these proceedings, in the Israeli industrial colony of Barkan, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quoted as saying: “We are here to stay forever. There will be no uprooting of colonies in the West Bank.”

The West Bank houses more than 150 Israeli colonies—deemed illegal by international law, and more than 100 colony outposts—deemed illegal even by Israeli law—with more than half a million colonists currently living in the West Bank.

The Palestinians want the West Bank and east Jerusalem as a part of their future state.

This week, the US administration attempted to relaunch the stagnant Mideast peace process, and US President Donald Trump dispatched his son-in-law, Jared Kushner—a Zionist with close ties to Israeli politicians—to meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

Needless to say, the push proved to be futile as no concrete US position was declared. Trump caused a stir early in his presidency when he refused to definitively back a two-state solution—a position consistently held by previous US administrations.

“The US is tacitly backing Israel’s plans that foresees Palestinians living in separated cantons,” Khalid says.

Khalid says Palestinians should not engage in futile discussions about a peace deal and should begin to engage in civil disobedience.

“Palestinians should never accept this scenario,” he said.

The 1994 Oslo Accords gave the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) full administrative and security control over area A of the West Bank.

Israel controls security in area B, where the PNA runs administrative affairs. Israel is in full administrative and security control of area C, which comprises about 65 per cent of the entire occupied West Bank.

Khalid believes that the Palestinian agreement in earlier talks to swap lands equal in size was a mistake that Israel has taken full advantage of.

The Palestinian leadership agreed to exchange territories in the West Bank for areas in other parts of the erstwhile Palestine.