Arab League Slams Softer US Stance on Int’l Legality of Israeli Settlements in West Bank

CAIRO (Sputnik) – The Arab League strongly condemns US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s Monday announcement, in which he said that Jewish settlements established by Israel in the West Bank were no longer inconsistent with international law, the organization’s head, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, said on Tuesday.

"Aboul Gheit condemned in the strongest terms the statement, issued by US Secretary of State [Mike Pompeo], that his country no longer viewed the Israeli settlements in the West Bank to be contrary to international law and considered it as a very negative development," the head said in a statement.

He added that international law was formulated by the global community, "but not by a single state."

In his turn, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday thanked US President Donald Trump’s administration for "righting a historical wrong."

Unlike Israel and the United States, the international community sees the presence and expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem as illegal and considers it to be one of the major obstacles on the way to peace.