14 countries condemn Israel’s approval of new West Bank settlements
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PARIS: Fourteen countries including France, Britain and Germany on Wednesday (Dec 24) condemned Israel’s recent approval of new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, warning the move risks undermining efforts to secure a wider peace.
In a joint statement released by the French foreign ministry, the governments of Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom said they opposed the decision by Israel’s security cabinet to greenlight 19 new settlements.
“We recall our clear opposition to any form of annexation and to the expansion of settlement policies,” the statement said.
WARNING OVER INTERNATIONAL LAW
The condemnation followed remarks by Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who said on Sunday the approvals were intended to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.
The countries said such unilateral actions “violate international law” and threaten to destabilise the situation at a sensitive moment, as mediators work to advance the second phase of a fragile Gaza ceasefire.
They urged Israel “to reverse this decision, as well as the expansion of settlements”, stressing that continued settlement activity could further inflame tensions on the ground.
COMMITMENT TO TWO-STATE SOLUTION
The statement reaffirmed the countries’ “unwavering commitment to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace based on the two-state solution”, under which Israel and a future Palestinian state would live side by side in peace and security.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Middle East war. Excluding east Jerusalem, which Israel occupied and later annexed in 1967, more than 500,000 Israelis now live in settlements across the West Bank alongside about three million Palestinians.
Earlier this month, the United Nations said the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank had reached its highest level since at least 2017, underscoring growing international concern over developments on the ground.
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