Off the wire
• Urgent: 12 killed, injured as suicide bombing rocks Kabul  • EU council gives nod to extending border control in five Schengen countries  • China Focus: Beijing clearing space for its key functions  • LaLiga President defends decision to suspend Celta-Madrid game  • 1st LD: Casualties feared as blast rattles near Afghan Supreme Court  • Israel's legalization of settlement in West Bank outrages Palestinians  • Alaves, Celta to vie for king's Cup final berth  • Indonesia to send one athlete to Asian paracycling championship in Bahrain  • Sri Lanka calls on SAARC to unite to eliminate terrorism  • Urgent: Casualties feared as blast rocks Kabul  
You are here: 　 Home

Arab League condemns Israel legalizing settlements in West Bank

Xinhua, February 7, 2017 Adjust font size:

The Arab League condemned Tuesday the law adopted by Israel to legalize housing units built on the Palestinian land in the West Bank.

"The law is no more than a cover for stealing the land and appropriating the property of Palestinians," said the head of the Cairo-based League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, in a statement.

The Israeli Knesset (parliament) on late Monday approved the so-called "Regulation Bill" in a 60-52 vote.

Under the new legislation, about 3,850 housing units in dozens of outposts built illegally on privately owned Palestinian lands would be retroactively legalized.

Aboul Gheit said that the law is one of the Israeli policies aimed at eliminating any possibility of a two-state solution and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

"The law reflects the real intentions of the Israeli government and embodies its anti-peace stand," the statement said.

Aboul Gheit considered the Israeli government is confined totally by the extremist right wing that doesn't believe in the two-state solution, the statement added.

The outposts were erected by ultra-right settlers without permits from the Israeli authorities. The governments often have turned a blind eye to their construction.

There are additional 120 settlements that Israel considered as legal.

Both outposts and settlements are illegal under international law as they were built on lands occupied by Israel in the 1967 Mideast War, where the Palestinians wish to build their future state. Endit