US position on Israeli settlement building ‘not enough’: Palestine

By Qais Abu Samra

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) - Palestine on Saturday welcomed the US opposition to Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank but said it was not enough.

On Friday, the US Department of State slammed Israeli plans to advance nearly 4,000 settlement units in the occupied West Bank, saying the measure “deeply damages the prospects for a two-state solution.”

In a statement, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said the US position to Israeli settlement building remains “insufficient”.

The US position “does not rise to the level of criminalizing the settlement scheme as a flagrant violation of international law and the Geneva Conventions and a coup against the signed agreements,” the ministry said.

State Department deputy spokeswoman Jalina Porter told reporters that Israeli settlement expansion “exacerbates tensions and undermines trust between the parties.”

She, however, declined to specify whether there will be repercussions for Israel if it moves forward with its settlement expansion plans.

The West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is regarded as "occupied territory" under international law, making all Jewish settlements there illegal.

*Writing by Ibrahim Mukhtar in Ankara