CAIRO, Monday, November 25, 2019 (WAFA) - Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Riad al-Malki, stressed today that the US decision on Israeli settlements is illegal and is not based on any legal grounds.

Speaking at an extraordinary meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, al-Malki said the US move is a political decision that reflects the unprecedented bias position of the US administration and its support for the Israeli occupation and state of terrorism.

He said that the US declaration is dangerous since it paves the way for destructive measures and decisions against the rights of the Palestinian people, the peace process, noting that such decisions endanger regional and international security and stability.

Al-Malki stressed that the position of the US administration on settlement is in complete contradiction with the positions of all previous US administrations as well as the resolutions of the international legitimacy.

He pointed out that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has seized the opportunity after the US announcement to move on with his decision to annex the Jordan Valley and parts of the West Bank to Israel.

Al-Malki stressed that there is an urgent need for serious actions to develop and deepen Arab political and diplomatic efforts to "besiege" America‘s bias for Israel as well as its defiance of international legitimacy and its resolutions.

"We see an urgent need to demand an urgent meeting of the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions to study the steps to be followed against the occupying power and its continuing violations of those agreements," the minister said.

He affirmed that the Palestinian leadership has succeeded so far in confronting this US aggression with Arab and international support, noting that the leadership has managed to foil the so-called deal of the century as well as the US attempts to disrupt the work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).  

A.D./T.R.