Palestinians welcome reopening of diplomacy with US

A top Palestinian official welcomed Wednesday plans by the new US administration to restore aid to the Palestinians and reopen diplomatic offices that were closed by former President Donald Trump.

"We look forward to reconnecting on the basis of international law and previously past UN resolutions", said Sabri Saidam, the Deputy Secretary General of the Fatah Central Committee.

"Any return to the so-called Trump plan is totally unacceptable, we look for a non-biased American contribution and participation and the restoration and communication with the Biden administration", he added.

On Tuesday, the US Ambassador to the United Nations Richard Mills told the Security Council that the administration of President Joe Biden intends to roll back on Trump's policy towards the Palestinians.

Trump's administration abandoned decades of US policy by recognising Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights, moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, accepted Jewish settlements in the West Bank and released a Mideast plan in which Israel would have been able to keep all of them, including smaller settlements deep inside the occupied territory.

Last year, Mike Pompeo became the first US secretary of state to visit a settlement.

The Palestinians angrily rejected the plan, and Biden is likely to abandon it.

He is opposed to settlement expansion and has said he hopes to revive peace negotiations.

On Wednesday, a pro-settler group said Israel's West Bank settler population has grown at nearly twice the rate of the country as a whole over the last five years, a period that coincides with the Trump administration's unprecedented acceptance of settlement activity.

The report by West Bank Jewish Population Stats shows the settler population growing by more than 17% since the start of 2016 to reach 475,481.

During the same period, Israel's population grew by around 9.4% to reach nearly 9.3 million, according to the government.

The group's report, which is based on official government data, does not include annexed east Jerusalem, home to more than 200,000 settlers.

The Palestinians and much of the international community view the settlements as illegal and as an obstacle to creating a viable, contiguous Palestinian state.

The settlers and their supporters view the West Bank as the biblical and historical heartland of the Jewish people and are opposed to any partition.