Ramallah Decries US Ambassador Claims About Israel's 'Right to Annex' Part of West Bank

GAZA (Sputnik) - The Palestinian Foreign Ministry harshly decried on Monday recent statements by US Ambassador in Tel Aviv David Friedman on Israel's "right" to retain part of the West Bank, describing it as a continuation of Washington’s unconditional support for its ally’s policy of occupation and "colonial" expansionism.

"The Foreign Ministry condemns in the strongest terms the statements and stance of US Ambassador Friedman, according to which he believes that Israel has the right to annex parts of the occupied West Bank, and considers them a continuation of the US administration’s policy that fully supports the [Israeli] occupation and its colonial expansionist policy," the ministry said.

On Saturday, US Ambassador in Tel Aviv David Friedman said in an interview with the New York Times newspaper that Israel had the right to annex "some, but unlikely all" of the West Bank "under certain circumstances."

The US ambassador’s claims come as Washington is set to unveil what is supposed to be the economic part of its "deal of the century" on Palestinian-Israeli peace at the economic conference in Bahrain from 25-26 June.

Palestine has already said that it would boycott the forum. The country has been rejecting the United States’ unilateral mediation efforts in the peace process with Israel after Washington relocated its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in May 2018.