Palestine: “US should take a clear stance on settlements”

Ramallah, 1 December 2021 (TDI): Spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, made a statement today highlighting: “The Israeli settlements anywhere in the occupied Palestinian territories are illegal and unacceptable and the US administration is requested to take a clear stance from them”.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh also stressed that Israel’s attempts to mislead the international public opinion on settlements are doomed to fail. He pointed out that colonial settlement construction is proceeding unabated in clear defiance of the policy of the US administration. Therefore, Biden’s government should take steps to translate its condemnations of settlement activity into concrete steps.

In this regard, many Palestinian authorities have been supporting the condemnation of international leaders of Israeli settlements. For instance, last week, Belgium labelled goods from Israeli settlements as human rights abuses in the West Bank.

Annexation plans and settlements projects

Palestinian Spokesman condemned the plan to construct a new colonial settlement in the former Jerusalem international airport. The local was built during the British Mandate. The official also stated that “the settlement plan is dangerous and further escalates the situation in the region as it constitutes an infringement upon a symbol of the sovereignty of the State of Palestine recognized by the United Nations General Assembly in 2021”.

In addition, he referred to UN Security Council resolution 2334 as an international remark for the condemnation of Israeli settlements:

“By passing the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 in December 2016, the international community has unanimously condemned Israeli colonial settlement construction and explicitly rejected all forms of settlement advanced by the Israeli occupation authorities as a means to impose the policy of fait accompli, whether in the occupied city of Jerusalem or the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories”.

Moreover, he emphasized that peace and security cannot be achieved by proceeding with the annexation policy. In that sense, Israel should recognize the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people while reiterating that the Palestinian leadership would take the appropriate decisions to defend the Palestinian rights.