Amnesty International on Tuesday condemned an announcement by the United States that it will not consider Israeli settlements in the West Bank as illegal under international law.
This was voiced in a statement by the international organization in response to the decision which was announced by the United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday.
“Today the United States government announced to the rest of the world that it believes the US and Israel are above the law: that Israel can continue to violate international law and Palestinians’ human rights and the US will firmly support it in doing so” Amnesty International said.
It added “The US announcement does not and will not change the law which is crystal clear: the construction and maintenance of settlements in the Occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem breaches international law and amounts to war crimes.”
The international community overwhelmingly considers the Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories illegal based on the Fourth Geneva Convention which stipulates that the occupying force is not allowed to transfer part of its own population to the territories it occupies.
