The General Delegation of the PLO to the United States strongly denounces Israel’s adoption of the “Regularization Law” which allows Israel to retroactively legalize privately owned Palestinian land for building illegal Israeli settlements.

The law aims to illegally annex Palestinian property, while giving license to settlers to grab land in the West Bank under the notion that it is Israeli land and will be used to build settlements. This comes shortly after last week’s recent announcement that Israel will begin construction on 6000 settlement units in the West Bank. This law blatantly disregards the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court which considers illegal settlement activities a war crime and flagrantly violates international law and UN conventions, including the recent UN resolution 2334. Adoption of this law is a clear sign that Israel is not interested in committing to the two-state solution nor in bringing about peace and stability to the region.

It is crucial that the international community, including the United States, hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law and put an end to its system of apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and the occupation of the Palestinian people.