21 nations, including the United Kingdom, Australia, and Japan, have condemned Israel’s plans to construct a contentious illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank, saying it would make it impossible for Palestinians to find a two-state future.
In a joint statement released on Thursday, the 21 nations called for Israel’s construction plans to be condemned as a “violation of international law” and called for their immediate reversal in the most fervent terms.
The statement comes in response to news this week that Israel will formally establish a settlement on a 12-kilometer (4. 6-mile) tract of land east of Jerusalem known as “East 1” or “E1”.
The development, which will include 3,400 new Israeli settlers’ homes, will connect occupied East Jerusalem to thousands of illegal Israeli settlements there, as well as cut off a large portion of the West Bank.
Palestinians value East Jerusalem as the top choice for a future Palestinian state in particular.
Any attempts to create a two-state solution will be “unattainable” according to the group of 21 countries, “by dividing any Palestinian state and restricting Palestinian access to Jerusalem.”
Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden are included in the group.
Tánaiste @SimonHarrisTD has joined 21 other people from around the world in denouncing plans to build settlements in the West Bank’s E1 region. These actions must be reversed because they are in violation of international law and represent a fundamental threat to the two-state solution. pic. twitter.com/FTmIbDZbEv
The illegal settlement also “risks undermining security and contributes to further violence and instability, bringing no harm to the Israeli people,” according to the group.
Since Israel first made the news last week, Antonio Guterres, head of the Palestinian Authority, the European Commission, and Antonio Guterres, head of the UN, have all voiced opposition to the E1 settlement’s plans.
These unilateral decisions, combined with ongoing settler violence and military operations, are further deteriorating the peace process, according to a statement from the European Union on August 14.
Even as Palestinian statehood gains increasing international recognition from UN member states, according to Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, settlements like E1 will help erase Palestine from the map.
Source: Aljazeera
Leave a Reply