Huckabee says Israel’s settlement plan in occupied West Bank ‘not a violation of international law’: Report
Israeli Army Radio is reporting that the US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has said he does not oppose the Israeli government’s plan to illegally build thousands of homes in a highly controversial development in the occupied West Bank.
The plans for the E1 area settlement project that would connect occupied East Jerusalem with the existing illegal Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, located several kilometres (miles) to the east, “is a decision for the government of Israel to make”, Huckabee said.
“We would not try to evaluate the good and the bad of that, but simply just say that, as a general rule, it is not a violation of international law,” he is reported as saying.
The ICJ has ruled it is, but Mike Huckabee knows better.
Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemns Netanyahu’s ‘provocative’ West Bank visit
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has condemned what it describes as a “provocative colonial incursion” by Netanyahu into the illegal Ofra settlement in the occupied West Bank.
In a statement, the ministry said the Israeli prime minister’s remarks in Ofra about “clinging to the land” and rejecting a Palestinian state represented “a deliberate reinforcement of the colonial, racist, and displacement-oriented occupation as part of a series of genocide, displacement, and annexation crimes”.
It warned that such actions and rhetoric provide “cover and encouragement for settler terrorist elements to commit further attacks against Palestinian citizens, their land, and their property, while dismissing international reactions to the settlements and settlers’ crimes”.
The ministry called on the international community to “mobilise more recognitions of the State of Palestine” and enable it to gain full membership in the United Nations.
Israeli settlers bulldoze land in West Bank’s Masafer Yatta
Videos verified by Al Jazeera show Israeli settlers using bulldozers and heavy machinery to carve new roads in the Huwara area of Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, under the protection of Israeli forces.
Local Palestinian platforms first broadcast the footage, which documents preparation for a new settlement outpost.
The development comes after we reported in July that the Israeli government submitted a letter to the High Court of Justice requesting approval for the army to demolish at least 12 villages in Masafer Yatta and forcibly expel their residents.
The Israeli army says the land should be cleared to create a military “firing” or training zone, according to Palestinian and Israeli human rights groups.
NGOs say the demolitions form part of a systematic Israeli policy to displace Palestinian communities.
