Britain and France were among 21 countries to sign a joint statement on Thursday calling Israel’s approval of a major settlement project in the West Bank “unacceptable and a violation of international law.”
Israel approved the plans for the roughly 12-square-kilometre parcel of land known as E1 just east of Jerusalem on Wednesday.
“We condemn this decision and call for its immediate reversal in the strongest terms,” said the statement of foreign ministers, whose signatories also included Australia, Canada and Italy.
Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden also signed the statement, as did the European Commission’s foreign affairs chief.
The statement noted that Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the plan “will make a two-state solution impossible by dividing any Palestinian state and restricting Palestinian access to Jerusalem.”
“This brings no benefits to the Israeli people,” the foreign ministers said.
“Instead, it risks undermining security and fuels further violence and instability, taking us further away from peace.
“The government of Israel still has an opportunity to stop the E1 plan going any further. We encourage them to urgently retract this plan,” they added.
The plan seeks to build around 3,400 homes on the ultra-sensitive tract of land, which lies between Jerusalem and the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim.
Meanwhile 27 countries, including Britain, France and Germany called on Israel on Thursday to allow “immediate independent foreign media access” into the besieged Palestinian territory of Gaza.
“Journalists and media workers play an essential role in putting the spotlight on the devastating reality of war,” the members of the Media Freedom Coalition said in a joint statement.
Severely malnourished children in the Gaza Strip will be “certainly condemned to death” unless aid gets to them quickly, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini warned Thursday.
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said hunger was particularly acute in the north -- where Gaza City is -- where an estimated one million people remain.
Lazzarini said an evaluation on how famine has evolved in the Gaza Strip was due to be published soon, adding UNRWA health centres had seen a six-fold increase in the number of severely malnourished children since March.
“If no measures are taken immediately, they are certainly condemned to death,” he told the Geneva Press Club.
All of Israel’s settlements in the West Bank, occupied since 1967, are considered illegal under international law, regardless of whether they have Israeli planning permission.
The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA) has slammed the latest move, which has also been criticized by UN chief Antonio Guterres.
Britain on Thursday summoned Israeli ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely to the foreign ministry to protest the decision.
“If implemented, these settlement plans would be a flagrant breach of international law and would divide a future Palestinian state in two, critically undermining a two-state solution,” the foreign office said in a statement.
