Various Palestinian political forces have consolidated their efforts to counter the US administration's decision to support Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian news agency WAFA reported on Tuesday
GAZA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th November, 2019) Various Palestinian political forces have consolidated their efforts to counter the US administration's decision to support Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian news agency WAFA reported on Tuesday.
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.
According to the agency, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas opened a series of urgent meetings and consultations on Tuesday to unite the efforts of the Palestinians to counter the US administration.
The Palestinian leadership intends to appeal to the UN Security Council, the UN General Assembly, the League of Arab States and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to take measures to defend Palestinian people's rights in accordance with international law, the agency said.
Palestinian government spokesman Ibrahim Melhem told Sputnik that Popmeo's statements were a "mockery of international resolutions." Hamas condemned Pompeo's statements as well.
"Statements by US Secretary of State Pompeo highlighted the failure of a peace plan. Settlements in the occupied territories are illegal and will be eliminated thanks to the resistance and constant struggle of our people," Hamas spokesman Abdul-Latif Qanou told Sputnik.
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.
