Fourteen countries, including Canada, France, the United Kingdom and Japan, condemned the recent approval of new Jewish settlements in the West Bank on Wednesday evening, urging the Israeli government to reverse the decision and “cease settlement expansion.”
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“We, representatives of Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Iceland, Japan, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom, condemn the approval by the Israeli government’s security cabinet of the creation of 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank,” according to a joint statement issued by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“We reiterate our clear opposition to any form of annexation as well as to the development of the colonization policy,” adds the text.
The Israeli authorities announced on Sunday that they had approved the installation of 19 settlements in the West Bank, a measure aimed, according to them, at “blocking the establishment of a terrorist Palestinian state”, in a context of intensification of colonization since October 7.
In their press release, the countries recall that this unilateral action constitutes “a violation of international law”.
“This action risks compromising the implementation of the peace plan for Gaza, even as efforts are being made to move to the second phase (of this plan, editor’s note), and it harms the prospects for lasting peace and security in the entire region,” they add.
“We call on Israel to reverse this decision, as well as to cease settlement expansion, in accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334,” they write, adding that they are “committed to supporting the right to self-determination of the Palestinians.”
These countries finally recall their “unwavering commitment to a global, just and lasting peace based (…) on the two-State solution where two democratic States, Israel and Palestine, live side by side in peace and security, within secure and recognized borders”.
Colonization has continued under all Israeli governments, left and right since 1967, and has clearly intensified under the current executive, particularly since the start of the war in Gaza triggered on October 7, 2023 by the unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Israel.
Aside from East Jerusalem, occupied and annexed by Israel, more than 500,000 Israelis live today in the West Bank in settlements that the UN considers illegal under international law, among some three million Palestinians.
