Western nations condemn Israeli settlement plan in West Bank
The leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, the Netherlands and Norway have urged Israel to withdraw a tender for 1,234 homes in the E1 settlement project, calling the decision “unacceptable.”
“The E1 settlement will undermine the prospect of the two-state solution by driving a wedge through the West Bank and harming the territorial contiguity of the Palestinian Territories,” they said in a joint statement.
The countries said Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank were illegal under international law, a position reaffirmed by the U.N. Security Council.
They called on Israel to retract the plans immediately and end settlement expansion, warning that the project would move the sides further from peace and weaken Israel’s international standing.
