The United Nations regrets the United States' decision to reverse a policy that regarded Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem as illegal under international law, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a press briefing on Tuesday
UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th November, 2019) The United Nations regrets the United States' decision to reverse a policy that regarded Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem as illegal under international law, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a press briefing on Tuesday.On Monday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that Washington no longer considered the construction of settlements by Israel in the West Bank "inconsistent with international law," a reversal of the position of previous administrations.
"We regret the decision and the announcement made by the United States," Dujarric said.
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."
Earlier on Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the organization's stance on the issue of constructing settlements on Palestinian territories remains unchanged.
"The UN position has not changed," Guterres told reporters.
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.
