No country above international law, FM Çavuşoğlu says on illegal Israeli settlements
Turkey said on Tuesday the United States declaration that it will no longer regard Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories as illegal has no validity in international law. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu wrote on Twitter that such declarations "shall have no validity with respect to international law". "No country is above international law," he said.
- Türkiye
- Compiled from wire services
- Published Date: 12:57 | 19 November 2019
- Modified Date: 03:39 | 19 November 2019
Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on Tuesday slammed the U.S. decision on illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank.
"No country is above international law. Fait accompli style declarations shall have no validity with respect to international law," Çavuşoğlu said on Twitter.
The move is highly likely to irk Palestinian officials, who have rejected a role for the U.S. in any prospective peace talks with Israel over the Trump administration's 2017 decision to unilaterally recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
The U.S. under President Donald Trump has since gone on to close the Palestinians' diplomatic office in Washington and has relocated its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
The Palestinians want these territories along with the Gaza Strip for the establishment of a future Palestinian state.
International law views both the West Bank and East Jerusalem as occupied territories and considers all Jewish settlement-building activity there illegal.