Turkey says 'no country is above international law' after US backs Jewish settlements

Turkey's foreign minister on Tuesday slammed the U.S. government shifting its policy on Israeli settlements which undermines the decades-long efforts for peace between Israel and Palestine.

"No country is above international law. Fait accompli style declarations shall have no validity with respect to international law," Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu wrote in a Twitter post.

The United States on Monday effectively backed Israel's right to build Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank by abandoning its four-decade-old position that they were "inconsistent with international law."

The announcement by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was a victory for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is struggling to remain in power after two inconclusive Israeli elections this year, and a defeat for the Palestinians.

"The establishment of Israeli civilian settlements is not, per se, inconsistent with international law," Pompeo told reporters at the State Department, reversing a formal legal position taken by the United States under Carter in 1978.

His announcement drew praise from Netanyahu, who said it "rights a historical wrong," and condemnation from Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, who said Washington was threatening "to replace international law with the 'law of the jungle.'"