RIYADH: Saudi Arabia on Wednesday strongly condemned a decision taken by the occupying Israeli authorities to allow re-settlement in the areas of the northern West Bank in Palestine.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed the Kingdom’s strong condemnation of this decision, which is a flagrant violation of all international laws, contributes to undermining regional and international peace efforts, obstructs political solutions based on the Arab Peace Initiative, and guarantees the establishment of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital,” it said in a statement.

The settler movement scored a victory Tuesday in the Israeli parliament, which rolled back law banning Israelis from an area in the northern West Bank from which Jewish residents were evacuated in 2005.

UN Middle East peace envoy Tor Wennesland said he does “remain deeply troubled by continued Israeli settlement expansion,” including the recent authorization of nine settlements in the occupied West Bank and the construction of thousands of new housing units in existing settlements.

The UN considers such settlement activity illegal under international law.

(With AFP)