Twenty-one countries, including Britain, France, Italy, Canada, and Australia, condemned Israel’s plan to build new settlement units in the area known as “E1,” located between Jerusalem and the Ma’ale Adumim settlement in the occupied West Bank, describing it as “unacceptable” and a “violation of international law.”
The condemnation came in a joint statement by the foreign ministers of Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, in addition to European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas. The statement said, “We condemn this decision and call on Israel to reverse it immediately,” stressing that proceeding with the project “undermines security and stability and distances the chances of achieving peace in the region.” The Israeli plan, approved by the Higher Planning Committee, calls for the construction of approximately 3,400 settlement units, which would separate the northern West Bank from the southern one and undermine the possibility of establishing a geographically contiguous Palestinian state. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich recently stated that this plan “will make the two-state solution impossible,” prompting criticism from the signatory states, who considered such statements “unhelpful to the Israeli people.”
In a related development, the British Foreign Office announced that it had summoned the Israeli ambassador in London to protest the decision, considering the project a “flagrant violation of international law” and threatening to seriously undermine the two-state solution.
The French Foreign Ministry also expressed its rejection of the plan, asserting that it contradicts Israel’s obligations under Security Council resolutions, particularly Resolution 2334, which calls for a cessation of all settlement activity. The United Nations, for its part, condemned the plan. Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of UNRWA, said, “We have never been further from a two-state solution than we are today,” noting that current policies make achieving this solution more difficult. UN Secretary-General António Guterres reiterated his rejection of the project, warning of its repercussions for peace prospects.
On the Palestinian front, the Palestinian presidency welcomed the joint statement by the 21 countries, considering it “an important step that must be complemented by real pressure on Israel to halt these dangerous settlement plans aimed at dividing the West Bank.”
The Israeli announcement of final approval of the E1 project comes amid ongoing escalation in Gaza and the West Bank, further complicating the chances of returning to any negotiating track. The settlement issue is one of the most contentious issues in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, as most countries consider the settlements established in the territories occupied in 1967 illegal under international law.
