In a statement, the Palestinian leader described Huckabee’s justification of the Benjamin Netanyahu government’s decision to legalize 19 outposts—the precursors to Israeli settlements in the West Bank—as a “flagrant violation of international law.”

All settlements, whether approved by the Israeli government or not, are illegal under international law and several UN Security Council resolutions, he emphasized.

The claim that these measures do not constitute annexation or a declaration of sovereignty is an attempt to manipulate legal and political terminology, he stressed.

Fattouh denounced the settlements as an integral part of the Israeli occupation and an undermining of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.

No one in the world is authorized to legitimize the occupation or its colonial policies, he insisted.

On the contrary, he stressed, international law and the UN Security Council resolutions on the matter, which reject the settlement policy, must be respected.

The head of the Palestinian National Council called on the US administration to fulfill its legal and moral responsibilities, respect UN resolutions, and cease its support for such violations.

jdt/arm/mem/rob