RAMALLAH, December 26, 2016 (WAFA) – The anti-settlements Security Council decision is world recognition that Israeli settlements are illegal, illegitimate and are no longer acceptable and it opens doors for further Palestinian diplomatic moves, Fatah official Mohammad Shtayyeh said on Monday.

He told a meeting of Fatah activists that the resolution, which passed by a vote of 14 to zero with the United States abstaining, is not only a moral victory but a call on the world community to monitor and fight Israeli settlement activities.

He also said even though the decision comes under Article 6 rather than Article 7, which means it cannot be implemented by force or be subject to sanctions, it nevertheless makes it possible for the Palestinians to go back to the Security Council and ask to make it fall under Article 7.

In addition, he said, it will be possible to push for boycott of settlements and even demand action taken against settlers such as revoking their European citizenship because they are found illegally on Palestinian land.

Shtayyeh, who is member of Fatah Central Committee, said the decision will be an asset to the French initiative to convene an international peace conference, which he expressed hope will become a European initiative rather than just French in case of change of rule in France.

He said Israel went crazy over the decision because it knows very well that the international community who created it can very much create a Palestinian state.

The Fatah official said the Palestinian leadership asked the Islamic Development Bank to compensate Senegal for damages that could be caused following Israeli threats to punish that African country for being one of four Security Council members who adopted the resolution after Egypt withdrew it and for supporting Palestinian rights.

M.K.