On Monday, Palestine condemned the visit of U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson to the "Ariel" settlement built on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank, considering it a provocative step that contradicts international law and international legitimacy resolutions.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement condemning the visit, affirming that this step represents a blatant violation of the rights of the Palestinian people and constitutes a serious escalation that threatens peace prospects and undermines international efforts to halt settlement expansion.

The ministry also condemned the inciting statements made by Johnson, in which he called for the annexation of the West Bank, considering that this reflects a premeditated intention to legitimize settlement and impose facts on the ground that contradict the declared U.S. position regarding the necessity of halting settlement.

The ministry pointed out that all settlement is illegal and undermines the two-state solution, threatening the possibility of establishing an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital, in accordance with international legitimacy resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative.

In a related context, the international community has repeatedly confirmed that settlement is illegal and obstructs efforts to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, calling for its immediate cessation without preconditions.

The occupied Palestinian territories are witnessing an escalation in Israeli assaults, as the occupation forces and settlers continue their attacks in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, resulting in the martyrdom of more than a thousand Palestinians since the beginning of October 2023, including children and women, and injuring thousands, in addition to the arrest of tens of thousands.

In Gaza, the occupation forces are committing genocide since the beginning of the recent aggression, resulting in hundreds of deaths and injuries, and massive destruction of infrastructure, while forced displacement and famine continue to claim the lives of many civilians.

At the same time, assaults in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, are escalating, where the occupation has killed more than 1,013 Palestinians, injured about 7,000 others, and arrested more than 18,500 Palestinians, according to official Palestinian data.