Anthony Hall, professor of globalization at Lethbridge University, believes that the destruction of Palestinian homes in the occupied territories amounts to ethnic cleansing.

“There is a real ethnic cleansing taking place of Palestinians. There has been almost a doubling of the destruction of these homes in East Jerusalem (al-Quds),” Hall told Press TV.

“So this destruction of homes and territories in the holy place of Jerusalem, in a place of great spiritual significance for Jews, Muslims, Christians and for many other peoples and many other faith traditions in the world, the founding of Israel through resolution 181 of the United Nations …, all of this activity is illegal,” he added.

The academic also dismissed as "absurd" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent remarks that stopping the Israeli settlements would be some kind of 'ethnic cleansing against Jewish Israelis.'

The presence and continued expansion of the settlements has created a major obstacle to efforts to establish peace in the Middle East. Palestinians want the occupied West Bank as part of their future independent state, with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital.

More than half a million Israelis live in over 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds.

Hall called it an “obscene blight” for the world to watch the expansion of Israel’s borders through the genocide of indigenous people of Palestine with the weaponry and finances fed into this operation by the United States.

He argued that “silencing criticism” of what is going on in Israel is indeed meant to allow the continuation of crimes against humanity.

According to Hall, the Israeli regime is "very good at distorting perceptions and silencing its critics through harsh measures."

Much of the international community regards the Israeli settlements as illegal, because they have been built on land captured by Israel in the 1967 war and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbid construction on occupied land.

Nevertheless, the Israeli regime continues to build more settlements and expand the existing ones.