Israel says Papua New Guinea to open consulate in settlement in West Bank

By Abdelraouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) - Papua New Guinea has decided to open a consulate in a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, Israel’s foreign minister said Tuesday.

"I am pleased to have had the honor of promoting the opening of the first consulate in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank)," Eli Cohen said in a statement on X.

"I thank the government of Papua New Guinea for its courageous friendship and welcome step," he added. "Judea and Samaria are the land of our ancestors, and I will always work for the settlements.”

While Cohen did not specify the location or date for the opening of the consulate, news website Station 7, which covers settler affairs, said the consulate is scheduled to open in the settlement of Ariel in the northern West Bank.

Estimates indicate that about 700,000 Israeli settlers are living in 164 settlements and 116 outposts in the occupied West Bank.

Under international law, all Jewish settlements in the occupied territories are considered illegal.

There was no official comment from Papua New Guinea on Cohen's statements.

No state has previously decided to open a consulate in a settlement in the West Bank.

The UN and most of the international community consider settlements to be not just illegal, but also that they undermine resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on a two-state solution.

This September, Papua New Guinea opened its embassy in West Jerusalem, making it the fifth country to establish an embassy in the city after the US, Kosovo, Guatemala, and Honduras.

Israel occupied the eastern part of Jerusalem in the 1967 war and annexed it in 1981.

This move is not recognized by the international community, with Palestinians insisting on East Jerusalem as the capital of their hoped-for state.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio