Cairo: Secretary-General of the League of Arab States Ahmed Aboul Gheit condemned the decision by the Israeli occupation’s ministerial committee to approve the establishment of 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, considering it a blatant challenge to the international will rejecting settlement activity and a violation of international law, which affirms the illegitimacy of settlements.

According to Saudi Press Agency, the secretary-general stated that the continued expansion of illegal settlement activity aims to prevent the establishment of a geographically contiguous Palestinian state and reflects the nature of the Israeli government, which he said is controlled by extremists and settlers.

Aboul Gheit emphasized that settlement expansion will not make it legitimate under any circumstances. He pointed out that the violence practiced by extremist settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank constitutes a form of terrorism carried out under the watch and with the protection of the official institutions of the occupying power.