S Arabia rejects US stance on Israeli settlements

DUBAI: Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday it completely rejected Washington’s statement on Israeli settlements in the West Bank, state news agency SPA reported.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday abandoned the position held by the United States for four decades that the settlements were “inconsistent with international law”. The Arab League said it is to hold an urgent meeting Monday on the US announcement that it no longer considers Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank illegal. Hossam Zaki, the pan-Arab body´s deputy secretary general, said several members had backed a Palestinian Authority call for a ministerial meeting.

The PA´s permanent representative to the Arab League has condemned Washington´s change of position — announced by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — as “illegal”. Pompeo said Monday that after legal consultations, the US had concluded the establishment of settlements was “not, per se, inconsistent with international law”. The Cairo-based Arab League has said the US shift was an “extremely adverse development.”