Pakistan rejects US backing of Jewish settlements in Palestine as 'lawful'

Laborers work at a construction site in the Israeli settlement of Ramat Givat Zeev in the occupied-West Bank on Nov. 19, 2019. (REUTERS)

• Foreign office reiterates all Jewish settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law
• Israel started building settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the wake of the Six-Day War in June 1967

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday reiterated its position on ‘illegal’ Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory and rejected a recent announcement by the United States that it would no longer consider Jewish settlements in the West Bank as unlawful.
On Monday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo abandoned the decades-old position that settlements in Israeli-occupied territory were “inconsistent with international law”, reversing a stand taken under President Jimmy Carter in 1978.
Israel started building settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the wake of the Six-Day War in June 1967. 
The UN human rights office has said the settlements remain in breach of international law, echoing a position taken by the International Court of Justice in an advisory opinion in 2004.
At a weekly press briefing on Thursday, the spokesman for the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: “Pakistan’s position on the illegal settlements in the Palestinian occupied territory remains unchanged in line with several security council resolutions especially resolution 465 of 1980, resolution 1860 of 2009, and more recently resolution 2334 adopted in 2016.”
“We consider all the Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank illegal under international law,” Foreign Office spokesman Dr. Muhammed Faisal said, adding that the US administration’s endorsement legitimizing the settlements “would further hamper the viability of the two states solution and prospects of a lasting peace in the region.”
Pakistan does not recognize the state of Israel and has repeatedly called for an independent Palestinian state based on “internationally agreed parameters” and the pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.
The foreign office spokesman suggested this was the only acceptable solution which would “guarantee sustainable peace in West Asia.”
As an Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) coordinator on the Palestine issue, Islamabad tables five resolutions on Palestine every year. These pertain to: human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem; Palestinian right to self-determination; Israeli settlements in Palestine and in the occupied Syrian Golan; human rights in the occupied Syrian Golan; and accountability and justice for all violations of international law in the occupied territories, including East Jerusalem, in the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) sessions.
In May this year, Pakistan highlighted “Israeli aggression” in Palestine at the OIC summit in Makkah chaired by Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz. 
Pakistan’s response follows the reaction of Gulf countries rejecting the US position on Israeli settlements which has prompted the Arab League to call an emergency meeting.
Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit has said such an “unfortunate change” in the American position would not bring Israel security, peace or normal relations with Arab countries. Egyptian state news agency MENA quoted him as saying it would “push the legions of Israeli settlers to practise more violence and brutality against the Palestinian population.”