“[Pompeo’s] announcement is a finishing of Netanyahu's policy of annexing settlements and consequently the occupied West Bank to Israel, which is a precise implementation of the "deal of the century," said al-Malki.

He added that this announcement necessitates immediate action at the international level, and must be rejected with all the available legal means. “It is a crime and those responsible for it must be punished, whoever and wherever they are.”

In a reversal of longstanding US policy, Pompeo said yesterday that imports to the United States coming from the Israeli settlements in the West Bank will now require a label indicating they were made in Israel. Washington’s top diplomat made the announcement during a high-profile visit to Israel, which also saw him pledge to identify US-based groups that support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and label them anti-Semitic.

“The visit of US Secretary to the occupied West Bank is a last ditch effort by the outgoing US administration to entrench its pattern of criminality, illegality, and direct complicity in the colonization of Palestine and dispossession of our people,” Ashrawi said in a press statement.

“It is also a cynical exploitation by Pompeo to advance his own personal political goals as the new face of far right ideologues in the US,” she added.

Ashrawi noted that products made in the Israeli colonial settlements in the occupied territories violate international law and amounts to recognition of Israel’s annexation of the West Bank.

“Labeling products made inside illegal Israeli settlements as 'made in Israel' or 'products of Israel' is an outrageous and illegal policy tantamount to de facto recognition of Israel's annexation of most of the West Bank,” she said.

“It is an attempt to legitimize the theft of Palestinian land and plunder of Palestinian resources that runs counter fundamental principles of international law and the global consensus,” she added.

“Further, Pompeo's pronouncement of hostility against states and international organizations that properly label Israeli settlement products is an affront to the international community's obligations under the law, including UN Security Council resolution 2334. These products are a product of theft. They must be boycotted, not supported.” 

The PLO official also criticized the current US administration’s willingness to provide separate designations of products coming from the occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip, revealing that it is part of the administration’s plan to further divide the Palestinian people.

“Adding insult to injury, Pompeo also announced the decoupling of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, labeling Palestinian products from the West Bank and Gaza as separate entities. This is one more measure affirming that the Trump agenda was always the disenfranchisement of the Palestinian people and their permanent subjugation to Israel's illegal control. It is also in line with this administration's agenda to keep Palestinians divided and maintain the internal rift,” she said.

She also criticized the current US administration for extorting countries into accepting the Israeli violations of international law.

“This outgoing US administration has expended so much effort on normalizing egregious Israeli violations of international law, fighting the most basic rights of the Palestinian people, as well as bullying and extorting countries into accepting these crimes. These pronouncements are an extension of this hostility and complicity.”

“Such malicious measures are intended to corner the incoming US administration with layers of legal and administrative measures that maintain the destructive Trump legacy beyond his disruptive term. Outrageous as they are, these policies have very real consequences on Palestinian lives and rights that must be undone.”

She called upon the world to “recover” from the chaos Trump has inflicted.

“The entire world needs to recover from the Trump legacy and the chaos it has created. The Palestinian leadership looks forward to working with responsible states on forging a new path to justice and peace based on mutual respect and commitment to the rule of law,” she concluded.

 Meanwhile, Queen Elizabeth II of Britain expressed her thanks to “First” institution for the “message of commitment” that she sent to His Majesty Sultan Haitham Bin Tarik on the 220th anniversary of relations between Britain and Oman, as well as her thanks to all in charge of such glorious occasions.

 The booklet includes private letters from His Majesty Sultan Haitham Bin Tarik and Queen Elizabeth II, and articles by various dignitaries, in addition to a detailed account of achievements made by the Sultanate, the challenges it addressed within the context of different geographic, cultural, historical, diplomatic and economic scenarios. The booklet also touches on the success and progress made in relations of friendship between the peoples of the two countries.

Daib al-Louh, Palestine’s ambassador to Egypt, thanked Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el Sisi and the Egyptian authorities for facilitating the movement of passengers into Gaza and for supporting the Palestinian cause on all political and diplomatic levels.

The border crossing has been closed since the coronavirus outbreak in Palestine in early March, and is reopened from time to time to allow entry and exit of passengers. Hundreds of Palestinians and other nationals have been left stranded in Egypt or in Gaza as a result of the closure of the border crossing ever since.