The Palestinian National Council (PNC) strongly condemned the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's pledge this morning to impose the sovereignty of the Israeli occupation on all settlements in the West Bank, considering it a new challenge to the will of the international community and the relevant resolutions of international legitimacy.

In a statement issued today, PNC said that the commitment of the head of the Israeli government to annex all settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories is a clear violation of the UN Security Council resolutions, especially the last resolution No. 2334 issued in December 2016, which considered all forms of Israeli settlements are illegal, and must stop all settlement activities, including in occupied Jerusalem.

Netanyahu's statements are not new, PNC added, and are influenced by the support and encouragement of the US to Israeli occupation, the latest is the decision of the US State Department a few days ago to delete the name of the Palestinian territories from its website, and statements by the US President Trump administration on the right of Israel to settle in the occupied Palestinian territories.

PNC affirmed that no decision, declaration or pledge issued by any party that legitimizes Israeli settlement in the territories of the occupied Palestinian state, the state which is recognized by the United Nations in 2012, are legitimate or legal.

PNC concluded its statement by stressing that there is no peace or security with the settlements and occupation, and the only guarantee to achieve security and stability in the Middle East is the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital on the borders of June 4, 1967, and the return of refugees to their homes in accordance with resolution 194.