Cairo, Dec. 22 (Petra) -- Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit strongly condemned the decision by Israel’s security cabinet to approve the establishment of 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank.

He said the decision represents a blatant challenge to the international will that rejects settlement activity, and a clear violation of international law, which affirms the illegality of Israeli settlements.

In a statement, the official spokesperson for the Secretary-General, Jamal Roshdi, said that the ongoing expansion of illegal settlements is aimed at preventing the establishment of a geographically contiguous Palestinian state, and reflects the nature of the Israeli government, which is dominated by extremists and settlers.

The spokesperson quoted Aboul Gheit as stressing that settlement expansion will never confer legitimacy, and that the violence carried out by extremist settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank constitutes a form of terrorism conducted under the watch, and with the protection, of the occupying power and its official institutions.

//Petra//WH

22/12/2025 11:13:52