United Nations, November 21 (RHC)-- The United Nations human rights agency has reaffirmed that the United Nations still considers the Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank illegal under international law, despite U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s announcement earlier this week that the United States no longer considers them illegal. 

United Nations’ Rupert Colville told reporters: “On the situation regarding Israel and the settlements in the Occupied Territories, as part of the U.N. Secretariat, we continue to follow the long-standing position of the United Nations that the Israeli settlements are in breach of international law.  A change in the policy position of one state does not modify existing international law nor its interpretation by the International Court of Justice and the Security Council.”