Netanyahu ‘very moved’ as US backs Israel illegal settlements in Palestine
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has welcomed the US unprecedented support for the regime’s illegal settlements on the Palestinian territories.
"I admit that I am very moved," Netanyahu said as he visited the Etzion bloc of the illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank Tuesday. "The Trump administration has corrected a historic injustice… This is a very great day… and an achievement that will stand for generations."
The Israeli premier said later that the US shift in policy towards illegal settlements could pave the way for annexation of the Jordan Valley in the West Bank.
He made the comments in the wake of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s announcement in support of the illegal settlements, violating a long held view adopted by the West that they are illegal.
Pomepo abandoned the US four-decade-old position that building settlements for the Israelis in Palestinian territories is "inconsistent with international law."
The decision is supposed to help strengthen the US position in its Mideast initiative, authored by Trump's son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner, and called Deal of the Century.
"If you want to know what the Deal of the Century plan was, we know what it is now," said Hagit Ofran, settlements watch director of Israeli group Peace Now. "It is to say to the Palestinians 'you are not going to get any of your basic demands and rights'."
Much of the international community regards the Israeli settlements as illegal because the territories were captured by Israel in the 1967 war and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbids construction on the occupied lands.
The Israeli regime has faced widespread global condemnation over settlement constructions in the occupied Palestinian lands.
The UN human rights office has said the settlements remain in breach of international law, a stance also reiterated by the EU.
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