CAIRO, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- Egypt reiterated its position on the Israeli settlements in the West Bank considering them illegal and contrary to international law, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry's spokesman said in a statement on Tuesday early morning.
"Egypt adheres to the resolutions of the international legitimacy and the international law regarding the status of the Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank as illegal and contrary to international law," Egyptian Foreign Ministry's spokesman Ahmed Hafez said.
The Egyptian statement came hours after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo voiced support for the establishment of Israeli settlements, saying they are "not, per se, inconsistent with international law."
On Tuesday, Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit slammed Pompeo's announcement as "a very negative development," saying the U.S. move encourages Israeli settlers "to exercise more violence and brutality against the Palestinians."
The decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been going on since the Western-backed creation of Israel by occupying Palestinian territories in 1948.
Egypt has repeatedly expressed support for the UN-sposnored two-state solution and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital based on the pre-1967 war borders.
