CAIRO, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian Authority asked the Arab League on Tuesday to hold an emergency ministerial-level meeting to discuss the latest U.S. position on Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
In a statement, the Permanent Delegation of Palestine to the Arab League requested the General Secretariat of the pan-Arab organization to hold this meeting to address the U.S. new approach to the Israeli settlement activities in the West Bank.
On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the U.S. government will no longer consider Israel's West Bank settlements "inconsistent" with the international law, a move that may further dim the future of the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
Pompeo said in a press conference that the decision, which reversed the Obama administration's position on the issue, had been made based on the "reality on the ground."
The Arab League said in a statement that it was decided to hold the ministerial meeting after Qatar, Yemen, Tunisia, Jordan and Egypt agreed to the Palestinian request.
For his part, Ambassador of Palestine in Cairo Diab al-Louh condemned Pompeo's remarks.
Such remarks are "a flagrant challenge" to the resolutions of international legitimacy rejecting Israel's settlement, including UN Security Council resolutions, he said in a statement.
"The United States cannot establish itself as an absolute ruler of this world, reformulating its laws and regulations according to its own will," the ambassador denounced.
Israeli settlement activity is deemed illegal by most world powers and the international law. It is considered one of the major issues that caused the collapse of the peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis in 2014.
According to the latest Palestinian data, around 400,000 Israelis live in 135 settlements and 100 illegal outposts in the West Bank, where the Palestinian population has reached 2.6 million.
