عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Palestine: US Position Against Settlements is Insufficient

Palestinians carry an injured person during clashes with Israeli soldiers near Jenin in the West Bank (AP)
Palestinians carry an injured person during clashes with Israeli soldiers near Jenin in the West Bank (AP)
TT
20
TT

Palestine: US Position Against Settlements is Insufficient

Palestinians carry an injured person during clashes with Israeli soldiers near Jenin in the West Bank (AP)
Palestinians carry an injured person during clashes with Israeli soldiers near Jenin in the West Bank (AP)

Palestine has welcomed the position of the US administration's opposition to settlement establishment in the West Bank, but said it was not enough, demanding real pressure to stop all Israeli violations in the Palestinian territories.

Member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Minister Hussein al-Sheikh welcomed the US State Department's rejection of Israeli settlement expansion and the construction of new units in the West Bank.

He also lauded the position of the US ambassador to Israel on the matter.

"We hope that this position will turn into serious pressure to stop all Israeli escalatory measures that destroy the very foundation of the two-state solution," said Sheikh.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry also welcomed the US position but said it was insufficient and did not rise to the level of the settlement crime.

Israeli authorities approved the establishment of 4,000 new settlement units in the West Bank, which will require the demolition of 12 villages in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron Governorate, and the seizure of 22,000 dunams in the Jordan Valley.

"These plans are a flagrant violation of international law and the Geneva Conventions, a coup against signed agreements. [They] inflame tension and undermine trust and the two-state solution," the ministry said.

The Foreign Ministry said the Israeli government is fully and directly responsible for these expansionist colonial plans and their impact on achieving peace, noting that they are considered a war crime and a crime against humanity.

The US State Department rejected Israeli plans to expand settlements in the West Bank and said it damages the prospects of a two-state solution.

In a telephone briefing, US State Department Deputy Spokesperson Jalina Porter said that the Biden administration has been clear from the outset.

"We strongly oppose the expansion of settlements which exacerbates tensions and undermines trust between the parties. Israel's program of expanding settlements deeply damages the prospect for a two-state solution."

The Israeli announcement came when arrangements were made for Biden's visit to the region.

Israeli media said that the US urged Tel Aviv to refrain from taking unilateral steps, including pushing for settlement projects, before Biden's visit.

Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudaineh said the Israeli plan "amounts to forced displacement and ethnic cleansing, in violation of international law and relevant UN Security Council resolutions."

He warned that it is "dangerous, condemned and rejected," and "all of the Israeli demolitions, evictions, and settlements fall within the framework of the apartheid regime that the occupation applies to the Palestinians and their lands amid international silence."

The PA official stressed that "this will have serious consequences on the ground," attributing full responsibility for the consequences to the Israeli government.

PM Mohammad Shtayyeh also warned of the "serious consequences" that would result from the approval of the plan, saying it constitutes a "threat to security and peace in the region, which is in a state of tension due to the policies and practices of persecution, racism and ethnic cleansing pursued by the occupation government against the Palestinian people."

He too called on the US administration "to intervene urgently to stop these violations."

Hamas also pledged to confront Israeli decisions with "more steadfastness and comprehensive confrontation."

The Arab League warned of the repercussions of the Israeli occupation government's approval to construct 4,000 new settlement units, saying they impact international security and stability.

The General Secretariat stressed that these plans are discriminatory and are added to a long series of Israeli crimes amid international silence.

The statement described the settlement plans as war crimes and crimes against humanity under the provisions of international law, stressing the need to implement international legitimacy resolutions, provide international protection for the Palestinian people, and end the occupation.

Most Viewed

 
Arab World

Gaza's Christians 'Heartbroken' for Pope Who Phoned them Nightly

A Palestinian woman walks outside the Holy Family Church after the death of Pope Francis was announced by the Vatican, in Gaza City April 21, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
A Palestinian woman walks outside the Holy Family Church after the death of Pope Francis was announced by the Vatican, in Gaza City April 21, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
TT
20
TT

Gaza's Christians 'Heartbroken' for Pope Who Phoned them Nightly

A Palestinian woman walks outside the Holy Family Church after the death of Pope Francis was announced by the Vatican, in Gaza City April 21, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
A Palestinian woman walks outside the Holy Family Church after the death of Pope Francis was announced by the Vatican, in Gaza City April 21, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Members of Gaza's tiny Christian community said they were "heartbroken" on Monday at the death of Pope Francis, who campaigned for peace for the devastated enclave and spoke to them on the phone every evening throughout the war.

Across the wider Middle East, Palestinian, Lebanese and Syrian Christians, both Catholic and Orthodox, praised Francis' constant engagement with them as a source of solace at a time when their communities faced wars, disasters, hardship and persecution.

"We lost a saint who taught us every day how to be brave, how to keep patient and stay strong. We lost a man who fought every day in every direction to protect this small herd of his," George Antone, 44, head of the emergency committee at the Holy Family Church in Gaza, told Reuters.

Francis called the church hours after the war in Gaza began in October 2023, Antone said, the start of what the Vatican News Service would describe as a nightly routine throughout the war. He would make sure to speak not only to the priest but to everyone else in the room, Antone said.

"We are heartbroken because of the death of Pope Francis, but we know that he is leaving behind a church that cares for us and that knows us by name - every single one of us," Antone said, referring to the Christians of Gaza who number in the hundreds.

"He used to tell each one: I am with you, don't be afraid."

Francis phoned a final time on Saturday night, the pastor of the Holy Family parish, Rev. Gabriel Romanelli, told the Vatican News Service.

"He said he was praying for us, he blessed us, and he thanked us for our prayers," Romanelli said.

The next day, in his last public statement on Easter, Francis appealed for peace in Gaza, telling the warring parties to "call a ceasefire, release the hostages and come to the aid of a starving people that aspires to a future of peace".

'PEACE IN THIS LAND'

At the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, on the site where many Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected, the superior of the Latin community, Father Stephane Milovitch, said Francis had stood for peace.

"We wish that peace will finally come very soon in this land and we wish the next pope will be able to help to have peace in Jerusalem and in all the world," he said.

In Lebanon, where a war between Israel and Hezbollah caused widespread casualties and extensive damage last year, sending millions from their homes, members of the Catholic Maronite community spoke of Francis' frequent mentions of their plight.

"He's a saint for us because he carried Lebanon and the Middle East in his heart, especially in the last period of war," said a priest in the southern Lebanese town of Rmeish, which was badly damaged during Israel's military campaign last year.

"We always felt he was very involved and he mobilized all the Catholic institutions and funds to help Lebanon throughout the crises that we went through," said Marie-Jo Dib, who works at a social foundation in Lebanon.

"He was a rebel and I really pray that the next pope will be like him," she added.

Francis made repeated trips to the Middle East, including to Iraq in 2021 where he learned that two suicide bombers had attempted to assassinate him in Mosul, a once cosmopolitan city where the ISIS terror group proclaimed a so-called caliphate from 2014-17.

He visited the ruins of four destroyed churches there and launched an appeal for peace.

In Syria, Archbishop Antiba Nicolas said he was holding mass at the historic Damascus Zaitoun church when he was handed a slip of paper with the news.

"He used to say 'dearest Syria' every time he spoke of Syria. He called on all international organisations to support Syria, the Christian presence and the church in Syria during the crisis in the past years," Nicolas said.