Statement on the approval by the Occupying Authorities of the establishment of 34 settlements in the Occupied West Bank

The General Secretariat of the League of Arab States (Palestine and Occupied Arab Territories Sector) expresses its strong condemnation and profound denunciation of the Israeli occupation authorities’ approval of the establishment of 34 new settlements in the West Bank, in a dangerous escalatory step that constitutes a grave and flagrant violation of international law, including the relevant Geneva Conventions, as well as resolutions of international legitimacy issued by the United Nations Security Council and General Assembly, all of which affirm the illegality of settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The General Secretariat considers that such unilateral measures serve only to deepen tensions and instability in the region, and affirms that systematic settlement expansion directly undermines the prospects for achieving a just and comprehensive peace.

It further obstructs international efforts aimed at resuming a serious and credible political process based on the two-State solution, leading to the end of the occupation and the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state on the 4 June 1967 lines, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The General Secretariat of the League of Arab States (Palestine and Occupied Arab Territories Sector) also stresses that the continuation of these policies constitutes a serious infringement on the legitimate and inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, and results in the imposition of faits accomplis on the ground that alter the demographic and geographic character of the occupied territories, in violation of peremptory norms of international law.

In this context, the General Secretariat calls upon the international community, particularly the United Nations Security Council, to assume its legal and moral responsibilities and to take practical and effective measures, including the activation of international accountability mechanisms, in order to bring an immediate end to these escalating settlement violations.