Palestinian official slams US envoy over backing Israeli settlements

A senior Palestinian official has condemned comments by the US ambassador to Israel that appeared to justify Israeli approval for 19 new settlements, calling the stance a clear breach of international law and a dangerous attempt to legitimise illegal land grabs.

Rouhi Fattouh, chairman of the Palestinian National Council, said the remarks by Ambassador Mike Huckabee amount to political cover for settlement expansion, which international law explicitly prohibits. He said Israel’s settlement drive, regardless of whether it is framed as licensing, urban growth or administrative planning, remains illegal under international humanitarian law.

Fattouh pointed to UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which affirms that all settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, has no legal validity and must cease immediately. He said attempts to portray new settlements as falling short of annexation rely on manipulating legal language and do not alter the reality on the ground.

He said settlements function as a tool to impose irreversible facts, erode Palestinian self-determination and entrench Israel’s occupation system. Rebranding such measures, he added, does nothing to change their colonial nature.