Ramallah, December 8 (RHC)-- The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates has summoned the Brazilian representative to Palestine to express its outrage over a recent visit by a Brazilian legislator to a settlement in the central part of the occupied West Bank.

Palestinian Deputy Foreign Minister for Latin American and Caribbean Affairs Hanan Jarrar stated that Francisco Mauro Brasil de Holanda was called in over the visit of Eduardo Bolsonaro, a parliamentarian and a son of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, to Psagot settlement.

Jarrar stated that Israeli settlements built on occupied Palestinian territories are illegal and illegitimate, and that Bolsonaro’s visit constitutes a blatant violation of international law and as well as the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions.

More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds.  Israeli officials are planning to construct 11,000 new settler units north of Jerusalem al-Quds, a report says.

The UN Security Council has condemned Israel’s settlement activities in the occupied territories in several resolutions.

A Palestinian official has lashed out at the Brazilian president’s pledge to move the country’s embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem al-Quds.  Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, quickly welcomed the plan and issued a statement then, praising the decision.

“I congratulate my friend Brazilian President-Elect, Jair Bolsonaro, for his intention to move the Brazilian Embassy to Jerusalem, a historic, correct and exciting step!” Netanyahu commented.