Palestinians decry US plan to provide consular services in West Bank settlement

By Qais Omar Darwesh, Aysar Alais, and Omar Alothmani

ISTANBUL (AA) – Palestinian officials and groups on Wednesday denounced a move by the US Embassy to provide consular services inside the Israeli settlement of Efrat in the occupied West Bank as a “dangerous precedent” and a “practical recognition” of Israel’s settlement activity.

The US Embassy said Tuesday that it will begin offering passport and citizenship services to US citizens in the settlement of Efrat, south of Bethlehem, on Friday.

It added on US social media company X that consular staff will conduct additional visits over the next two months, including to the settlement of Beitar Illit near Bethlehem.

Efrat is located in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc, built on land Israel occupied in 1967. The United Nations and the international community consider Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, illegal under international law.

The US move “is illegal and confirms that Washington is treating the settlements as if they were part of Israel in an attempt to legitimize the occupation,” Wasel Abu Youssef, a member of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)’s Executive Committee, told Anadolu.

“There are numerous UN Security Council resolutions affirming the illegality of settlement activity, as well as legal opinions issued by the International Court of Justice confirming the inadmissibility of settlements in occupied territories,” he said. “This step clearly contradicts the international legal system.”

The PLO official stressed that the US decision constitutes implicit US approval of Israel’s annexation of the West Bank.

- Dangerous development

Salah al-Khawaja, director of the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission office in the central West Bank, described the decision as “a dangerous development toward legalizing outposts and settlements.”

He said the embassy’s announcement challenges the international legal system and the International Court of Justice ruling that affirms Palestinian political jurisdiction over the occupied territory and considers settlements illegal.

Khawaja said providing consular services in Israeli settlements such as Efrat and Beitar Illit, alongside Israeli cities such as Haifa, “aims to equate the legal status of settlements with cities inside Israel.”

The move “contributes to perpetuating colonialism in all of historical Palestine,” and supports Israel’s annexation of the West Bank, he added.

Mustafa Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative party, called the decision “unprecedented” in US policy toward the Palestinian issue.

He said the Trump administration moved from the traditional US position opposing settlement activity to a stance that deals with and accepts settlements.

- Flagrant violation

Barghouti said the decision constitutes “a flagrant violation of international law,” noting that the UN Security Council and the United Nations have condemned Israeli settlements.

“The decision indicates that the United States is allowing Israel to annex and Judaize the West Bank,” he added, citing recent statements by US Ambassador Mike Huckabee about “Greater Israel.”

This talk “reflects Washington's intention to deal with the Zionist project by accepting radical changes in the reality of the West Bank," he added.

Huckabee argued on Friday that Israel has a biblical right to the land stretching from the Nile to the Euphrates rivers, saying on a podcast released Friday: “It would be fine if they (Israel) took it all.”

Huckabee made the remarks in an interview with US journalist Tucker Carlson, during which he defended Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip and voiced support for the idea of “divine providence” giving control of the region to Israel.

In an interview with Axios published Feb. 11, President Donald Trump said: “We have enough things to think about now. We don’t need to be dealing with the West Bank.”

Hamas called the US move a “dangerous precedent” and a “practical recognition” of the settlements.

In a statement, the group said the US step represents “blatant alignment with the occupation’s Judaization plans” and constitutes “a practical recognition of the legitimacy of settlements and the occupation’s control over the West Bank.”

“This new decision reveals a stark contradiction in US positions, which claim to reject the annexation of the West Bank while taking steps on the ground that reinforce annexation and entrench Israeli sovereignty over our occupied land,” the statement said.

Hamas said providing official US services inside settlements amounts to “a public violation of international law, which criminalizes settlement activity,” and an attempt to impose new political realities that could undermine Palestinian national rights.

The international community and the United Nations consider the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, occupied Palestinian territory, and regard Israeli settlement activity there as “illegal” under international law.

*Writing by Lina Altawell