Baghdad: The Speaker of the Arab Parliament, Mohamed bin Ahmed Al-Yamahi, welcomed on Wednesday the move announced by the British government to ban the import of goods produced in illegal (Israeli) settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. He also welcomed the joint statement issued by the foreign ministers of 12 European countries regarding the implementation of national and European restrictions on trade with these settlements.

According to Iraqi News Agency, Al-Yamahi stated that these steps represent a significant shift from political condemnation to practical action in confronting the system of settlement expansion and annexation entrenched by the Israeli occupation entity. He emphasized that Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories are illegal under international law.

He added that continued settlement expansion, the E1 plan, and the imposition of annexation facts on the ground constitute a blatant challenge to the will of the international community and a systematic undermining of the two-state solution. He stressed that the occupation entity cannot transform its crimes and violations into a permanent political or economic reality through a policy of imposing a *fait accompli*.

He asserted that trade with settlements must not become an economic cover for financing settlement activities, plundering Palestinian land, and displacing its rightful owners, calling on the European Union and the international community to build upon these steps and translate them into binding, deterrent measures.