RAMALLAH, January 2, 2018 (WAFA) - The Palestinian National Council (PNC), the Palestinian parliament in exile, said on Monday that the decision of the Israeli ruling Likud Party to impose Israeli law on the illegal West Bank settlements is an open war against the Palestinian people and their inalienable rights.

The PNC said in a statement by its speaker, Salim Zanoun, that “the decision represents the epitome of terrorism and aggression against the rights of the Palestinian people. It is a translation of the policies of colonialism, extremism and arrogance that is rooted in the mentality of the Likud party and its leaders.”

The PNC stressed that this decision is a clear violation of historic Palestinian rights in their land and an attack on United Nations resolutions that considered the West Bank, including Jerusalem, occupied Palestinian territories that no party can change its legal character. It called on the UN Security Council and the General Assembly to reject this resolution and condemn it, “and put an end to this arrogance and reckless challenge, which is an explicit declaration against peace and stability in the region.”

It said the Likud decision was based on “the offensive American administration‘s decisions (on Jerusalem), which opened the door wide to the extremism of the Israeli government and its aggression and defiance of the relevant resolutions of international legitimacy that rejected all forms of colonial settlement in the occupied Palestinian territories.”

It said the Palestinian people will remain rooted in their land and will resist this decision and work on nullifying it to live freely in their homeland.

It reaffirmed the right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent and sovereign Palestinian state on all the territories occupied in 1967 with Jerusalem as its capital, free from settlement, in addition to the refugees’ right of return to their homes.

M.K.