Lubaba Zuqan
09 June 2019•Update: 10 June 2019
RAMALLAH, Palestine
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said Sunday it was considering filing a complaint against U.S. Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The move came after Friedman said Saturday that Israel has the right to annex parts of the occupied West Bank.
In a statement, the ministry said Friedman's statements "give proof that he was a threat to peace and security in the region".
The ministry said the envoy's words were "an extension of the policy of the U.S. administration, which is fully biased towards the occupation and its expansionist colonial policies".
"What reasoning could justify Friedman's logic that Israel has the right to annex parts of the West Bank?" the ministry asked. "International law prohibits the annexation of a land by force, as well as a reality imposed by occupying powers."
In an interview with The New York Times, Friedman, a staunch supporter of Israeli settlement building, declined to say how Washington would respond if Israel moved to annex West Bank land unilaterally.
"Under certain circumstances, I think Israel has the right to retain some, but unlikely all, of the West Bank," he said.
Israel occupied the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, during the 1967 Middle East war.
