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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)
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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.

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Arab World

Palestinians Receptive to Lebanon’s Call to Limit Possession of Weapons in Refugee Camps

The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee meets at the government headquarters. (Dialogue committee)
The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee meets at the government headquarters. (Dialogue committee)
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Palestinians Receptive to Lebanon’s Call to Limit Possession of Weapons in Refugee Camps

The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee meets at the government headquarters. (Dialogue committee)
The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee meets at the government headquarters. (Dialogue committee)

Lebanon has started to exert serious efforts to restrict the possession of weapons inside Palestinian refugee camps in the country in line with President Joseph Aoun’s inaugural speech.

The president had demanded that the possession of weapons in the country and the camps be limited to the state.

The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee met at the government headquarters in Beirut three days ago to discuss the issue.

All Palestinian factions attended the meeting, and the gatherers agreed to “completely” resolve the Palestinian possession of arms outside the camps. They also agreed to outline how to restrict weapons inside the camps in line with the president’s speech.

The Lebanese state has yet to come up with the mechanism to confiscate the weapons inside the camps.

A Lebanese security source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the arms will be tackled through a political approach drawn up by the government. “It will be carried out by the army with the security agencies and in coordination with the Palestinian factions in the camp, led by the Fatah movement, which is the official representative of the Palestinian people,” it added.

The Palestinians have expressed their “complete understanding” of the issue, it remarked.

The laying down of weapons by Palestinian factions is a step towards all illegal weapons throughout the country being turned over to the Lebanese state, it went on to say.

“There are no longer any excuses for weapons to remain in possession of any organization,” stressed the source.

Lebanese groups will be demanded to lay down their arms after the Palestinian ones do, it added.

In a first, the Palestinian factions have been very receptive to a Lebanese head of state’s demand to cooperate in limiting the possession of weapons in the refugee camps.

Member of the Palestinian National and Central Councils Haitham Zaiter said that the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) recognizes that the camps are part of Lebanese territories, so they come under the authority of the state and its laws.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that “complete coordination” is ongoing between the Lebanese security agencies and PLO inside the camps where several wanted Lebanese and Palestinian suspects and others from other nationalities have been turned over to the authorities.

The suspects had sought refuge in the camps to avoid justice in the crimes they have committed, he acknowledged.

“The PLO is the sole representative of the Palestinian people inside Palestine and in the diaspora,” he stated.

Moreover, Zaiter explained that Palestinian weapons in Lebanon are either carried by the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC) outside the camps or by non-partisan individuals inside the camps.

The PFLP-GC laid down its weapons as soon as the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad collapsed in December.

Heavy weapons inside the camps had been previously brought in with the aim to undermine the PLO, he added.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas “has constantly called for coordination with Lebanese authorities to limit the possession of these weapons,” Zaiter said.