Residential houses are picture in the Ma'ale Adumim settlement in the West Bank east of Jerusalem, on July 1, 2020. (PHOTO / AFP)

RAMALLAH - Palestine on Saturday lashed out at US position towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, calling it a "foggy" position.

"The US foggy position encourages the Israeli government to escalate its settlement policy," the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) said in a statement.

"The Israeli government exploits the US position to implement what had been already agreed upon between the former US administration and the Israeli government concerning settlement," reads the statement, referring to the settlement of Ma'ale Adumim in the West Bank overlooking the E1 area.

The US foggy position encourages the Israeli government to escalate its settlement policy.

The Palestine Liberation Organization

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The E1 area is an area of the West Bank within the municipal boundary of the Israeli settlement of Ma'ale Adumim. It is located adjacent to and northeast of East Jerusalem and to the west of Ma'ale Adumim.

"The current administration is not putting the issue of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the top of its priorities," the PLO statement said.

It said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week instructed the start of implementing the settlement project in E1 area "to establish a new status quo on the ground."

"The settlement project in E1 area is part of the actual Israeli annexation plan of large parts of the West Bank and will undermine the vision of the two-state solution," it added.

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Last week, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye urged the international community and the United States to intervene to prevent the implementation of the settlement project in E1 area.

The issue of Jewish settlements in the West Bank is one of the thorny issues that caused the stalemate of the peace negotiations, which were sponsored by the United States and stopped in 2014.