Saudi Arabia's Council of Ministers urged on Tuesday the international community to protect Palestinians in light of the United States' change in policy on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th November, 2019) Saudi Arabia's Council of Ministers urged on Tuesday the international community to protect Palestinians in light of the United States' change in policy on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
"The Council of Ministers reiterates the Kingdom's call for the international community to take responsibility for the international protection of the Palestinian people and to oppose Israeli policies that violate international law," the Saudi government was quoted as saying in the state-run Saudi Press Agency.
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.
This announcement seems to go against UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which was adopted unanimously in 2016. It 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.
