Palestine slams US consular services in occupied West Bank settlements
Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which Israel occupied in 1967, are illegal under international law.
Palestine has slammed a decision by the US embassy to offer consular services in an illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, calling it a "violation of international law".
The US mission in Jerusalem said on Tuesday that as part of an initiative to mark the 250th anniversary of US independence, it would provide Americans with "routine passport services in Efrat on Friday, February 27, for one day only".
The US embassy also announced that such pop-up consular services will be provided in the next couple of months in another illegal Israeli settlement, Beitar Illit, as well as in the Palestinian city of Ramallah and three cities inside Israel.
The Palestinian Authority's Colonisation and Wall Resistance Commission on Wednesday condemned the move, saying in a statement that it "constitutes a clear violation of international law and a blatant favouring of the occupation authorities", referencing Israel.
Minister Muayyad Shubban, head of the commission, called on the US to reverse the decision and on the international community to refrain from legitimising the settlement system.
Efrat is an occupied West Bank settlement home to about 12,000 Israelis, located 12 kilometres south of Jerusalem.
Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which Israel occupied in 1967, are illegal under international law.
The Palestinian resistance group Hamas also decried the US decision, describing it in a statement as "a dangerous step that supports Israel's Judaisation plans".
Last week, Israel's cabinet approved measures to tighten the country's control over the occupied West Bank and make it easier for settlers to buy land, a move Palestinians called a "de facto annexation".
Much of the occupied West Bank is under Israeli military control, with limited Palestinian self-rule in some areas run by the Palestinian Authority.
More than 500,000 illegal Israeli settlers live in the occupied West Bank, home to 3 million Palestinians. Most settlements are small towns surrounded by fences and guarded by Israeli soldiers.