19 Nov 2019; MEMO: Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh condemned an announcement by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stating that Israeli settlements in the West Bank will no longer be viewed as illegal, as reported by Anadolu Agency.
“The U.S.’s partial bias towards one of the most radical trends in Israel [of illegal settlement building] prevents it from seeing the basic principles of international law,” Shtayyeh told the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.
“This is nothing but an effort to support [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu in the final moments of the prime minister’s [electoral] race,” he added.
“The statement by the U.S. official confirms that it is a partner in the attacks on our people and their rights,” Hazim Kasim, spokesman for the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, said in a statement, referring to Pompeo.
Kasim said the Israeli settlements are “war crimes where Israel expelled the real owners of these lands and built settlements using force and brought Israelis there from all over the world.”
The Islamic Jihad group and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine called for unity against the division of Palestine.
