RAMALLAH, West Bank — US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Nov. 18 that the United States no longer considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank to be “inconsistent with international law.” The Palestinian Authority saw the statement as US bias toward Israel and a green light for Israel to annex areas of the West Bank.

The Palestinian leadership, including President Mahmoud Abbas, the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Fatah’s Central Committee and the secretaries of the Palestinian factions, held an emergency meeting in Ramallah on Nov. 19 and developed a plan of action to confront the US position. 

According to the Palestinian leadership's statement, the plan has two tracks. The first is a political and diplomatic effort to rally international and Arab support from the UN Security Council, the UN General Assembly, the Arab League and the Islamic Action Organization against the US position, in addition to joining important international bodies such as the World Intellectual Property Organization. The second track is domestic action such as expanding popular resistance against settlements, urging Palestinians to participate in demonstrations across the West Bank and tightening the 2010 prohibition on settlement products that criminalized any Palestinian dealings with settlements.

The government held an emergency session on Nov. 20. In a statement, the PA stressed, “The decision of the US administration irrevocably abolishes any role it can have in any current or future political track. The government stands behind the president's leadership and decisions in all political, legal, economic and popular measures he deems necessary.”