Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Saeb Erekat, said today, Thursday, that Israeli settlement has increased by 25 percent since the beginning of the term of US President Donald Trump three years ago.
Erekat said in a statement, that the intensification of the Israeli colonial settlement activities "is an integral part of the annexation and settlement plan for Trump and the Prime Minister of Benjamin Netanyahu."
He added, "Trump and Netanyahu´s primary goal now is to confirm their position by claiming that settlement does not contradict international law, in continuation of their attempts to legalize settlement, annexation, and apartheid, and in parallel deny the legitimate national rights of the Palestinian people."
He considered that "the arrogance and ignorance of the American peace team in the Middle East has led to ideological political blindness, which is tantamount to declaring war on international law."
He believed that this "is not an isolated event, but it occurs in the context of the Israeli annexation plan presented as an American peace initiative, aimed at normalizing crimes including annexation and apartheid, while perpetuating the deprivation of the Palestinian people of their inalienable rights."
Erekat stressed that if the international community really wants to protect the possibility of a comprehensive and just peace on the basis of international law, international legitimacy and relevant United Nations resolutions, it must shoulder its responsibilities, including imposing sanctions on the occupying Power, Israel.
And last November, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that Washington no longer considered the settlements in the West Bank, which Israel occupied in 1967, "inconsistent with international law", in retreating a legal opinion issued by the US State Department in 1978, that the settlements are in the territories. Occupied "does not comply with international law."
