The Turkish Foreign Ministry on Tuesday condemned the United States' decision to stop considering the Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem illegal under international law
ANKARA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th November, 2019) The Turkish Foreign Ministry on Tuesday condemned the United States' decision to stop considering the Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem illegal under international law.On Monday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that Washington no longer considered the construction of civilian settlements by Israel in the West Bank "inconsistent with international law," a reversal of the position set up by the previous administration under President Barack Obama.
"The United States Administration, which has positioned itself against the entire international community with its unlawful acts concerning Jerusalem and Golan Heights that are occupied by Israel, has now claimed that the illegal settlements in the West Bank were not inconsistent with international law. This is yet another example of the blatant and unlawful attitude of the US Administration aiming to legitimize the illegal practices of Israel," the Turkish ministry said in a statement.
According to the ministry, the Israeli settlements are the biggest obstacle to solving the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the two-state formula.
"The unfortunate statement made by Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State of the United States, openly disregards the international law, especially the Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 (2016)," the statement continued.
The ministry further stressed that Washington's decision would have no legal validity as "an arbitrary act of single country" cannot change the entire international legal system.
Israel has been in control of the formerly Palestinian-majority West Bank since the Six-Day War in 1967. Article 49 of the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention on the protection of civilian persons during times of war reads that "The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies."
Resolution 2334, adopted unanimously by the UN Security Council in 2016, states that the Israeli activity of building settlements on Palestinian territories, occupied since 1967, constitutes a violation of international law. Over the past decades, Israel has built more than 120 settlements in the contested area.
