RAMALLAH, Palestine

Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh vowed Monday to sue countries that import goods manufactured inside illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

“Dealing with [Israeli] settlements is against international law,” Shtayyeh told a weekly cabinet meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

The threat came one day after the first commercial shipment of goods from the Israeli settlements was flown to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), weeks after the two countries signed a US-sponsored agreement to normalize their relations.

Shtayyeh described the imports of settlement products by Arab states as “a breach that is not committed by non-Arab countries”.

“This breach reflects either a disregard of the gravity and criminality of the occupation, indifference to the injustice inflicted on the Palestinians, or a lack of awareness that dealings with these colonies violate international law, and expose those who do it to criminal and legal prosecution in international courts,” he said.

Last month, the head of the Israeli Settlements Council in the occupied West Bank, Yossi Dagan, signed four agreements to export products from the settlements to Abu Dhabi through FAM Holding, a Dubai distribution company.

On Sunday, the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement -- a Palestinian-led movement that works to end international support for Israel's oppression of Palestinians -- called for intensifying its campaign against Israel in 2021 and the imposition of international sanctions over its occupation and persecution of the Palestinian people.

*Ibrahim Mukhtar contributed to this report from Ankara.