RAMALLAH, February 25, 2026 (WAFA) – The Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission (CWRC) stated that the decision to expand the scope of consular services of the United States Embassy in Jerusalem to include the colonial settlement of Efrat, established on Palestinian citizens’ lands south of Bethlehem, constitutes a clear violation of international law and reflects an evident bias in favor of the occupation authorities, through institutional engagement with an illegitimate colonial settlement entity established on occupied land in contravention of peremptory norms of international humanitarian law.
The head of the Commission, Minister Mu'ayyad Shaa'ban, affirmed in a statement issued Wednesday that all colonial settlements in the West Bank are illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, which prohibits an occupying power from transferring parts of its civilian population into the territory it occupies.
He further noted that resolutions of the United Nations and the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice affirm the illegality of settlement activity and the obligation not to recognize any legal effects arising therefrom.
Shaaban explained that extending consular services to include a settlement established on confiscated Palestinian land entails a breach of the principle of non-recognition of an unlawful situation — a well-established norm in international law that obliges states to refrain from any action that would confer official or practical legitimacy upon the consequences of serious violations.
He added that this step contradicts declared commitments to supporting the two-state solution, as it effectively entrenches a settlement reality that undermines the possibility of establishing an independent and sovereign Palestinian state.
He stressed that such measures cannot be separated from a broader context aimed at redefining occupied territory as an administrative sphere susceptible to diplomatic normalization, thereby transforming de facto control into a form of implicit recognition and granting settlements additional political cover.
Shaa’ban called on the U.S. administration to reverse the decision, adhere to the requirements of international law, and refrain from taking steps that would undermine the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to their land and property.
He also urged the international community to assume its legal and moral responsibilities in confronting the settlement enterprise and to reject any measure that contributes to its legitimization or treats it as a normal reality.
He affirmed that the Palestinian people will continue to defend their land and rights through all legitimate legal and diplomatic means, and that any attempt to confer an administrative or consular character upon settlements will not alter their reality as an ongoing violation of international law and an assault on the Palestinian people’s established right to land and sovereignty.
T.R.
