Palestinians have condemned an illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank following a visit by Mike Johnson, the top member of the US Congress.
The speaker of the US House of Representatives’ trip was described as a “blatant violation of international law” by the Palestinian Foreign Ministry on Monday.
Johnson is the highest-ranking US official to visit an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. He is the next president to be in line for the presidency.
His travel comes as settler violence against Palestinians escalates following the July killing of two US citizens.
As part of its brutal assault and blockade of Gaza, the Israeli military has increased its deadly raids, home demolitions, and displacement campaigns in the West Bank.
Johnson’s visit contradicts Arab and US efforts to “end the cycle of violence,” according to the Palestinian Foreign Ministry, as well as Washington’s public opposition to settlers’ “aggressions.”
The ministry further stated that “all settlement activity is invalid and illegal and undermines the two-state solution’s implementation and achieving peace.”
Johnson made a trip to Ariel, north of Ramallah, on Monday, according to Israeli media reports.
Johnson, who used a biblical name for the West Bank, was quoted as saying, “Judea and Samaria are the front lines of the state of Israel and must remain an integral part of it.”
We support you, even if the rest of the world disagrees.
The House speaker’s remarks appear to be in reference to recent moves by some Western nations, including close allies of the US and Israel, to grant a Palestinian state.
Under international law, “illegal” means.
International law prohibits Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. The highest UN tribunal, the International Court of Justice, reiterated that view last year, arguing that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory must end “as soon as possible.”
UN spokesman Farhan Haq stated to reporters on Monday that, as we all know, the settlements are against international law.
In 1967, Israel annexed East Jerusalem and the West Bank, and in 1980, it annexed the entire holy city.
In the West Bank, successive Israeli governments have been constructing Jewish-only settlements on land that would serve as the site of a Palestinian state in the event of a two-state solution.
In the West Bank occupied today, hundreds of thousands of Israeli settlers reside.
Israel is a signatory to the Fourth Geneva Convention, which forbids the occupying country from transferring “parts of its own civilian population” into the territory it occupies.
The West Bank is still under Israeli security control in full, despite the Oslo Accords’ grant of the Palestinian Authority some municipal authority.
Israel also has control over the territory’s airspace and entry points.
Palestinians reside under Israeli military rule, where they can be imprisoned indefinitely without being charged, whereas Israeli settlers in the West Bank have full citizenship rights.
Leading human rights organizations accuse Israel of imposing a Palestinian apartheid regime.
It’s a matter of faith for us, he said.
Despite providing Israel with billions of dollars in military aid, the US has publicly opposed West Bank settlements for decades and pressed for a two-state solution.
However, US President Donald Trump has pushed US policy even further in favor of Israel, refusing to support a Palestinian state or to criticize settlement expansion.
Meanwhile, many Republicans have long argued that backing Israel from a Christian sage is a Christian religious duty.
America’s “prayer” is that we will always support Israel. We ask that Jerusalem’s preservation and peace be preserved. That is what scripture instructs us to do. Johnson said on Sunday while visiting the Western Wall that it was a matter of faith.
