Photo: Collected
The European Union condemns the decision by Israeli authorities to approve the construction of around 3,500 housing units in the West Bank and urges them to reverse the decision, said the lead EU spokesman for external affairs, Peter Stano on Thursday (7 March).
"The European Union condemns Wednesday’s approval by the Israeli High Planning Committee of plans for advancing over 3.426 housing units, further expanding illegal settlements across the occupied West Bank. The EU urges Israel to reverse these decisions. The EU reiterates that settlements are illegal under international law and constitute an obstacle to peace, as they threaten the two-state solution," Stano said in a statement.
The decision goes counter to efforts to reduce the tensions in the region and the EU "will not recognise any changes to the pre-1967 borders, including with regard to Jerusalem, other than those agreed by the parties," he added.
The new houses will be added to the 18,500 settlements already approved, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Wednesday.
The Palestinians are demanding, as part of the currently suspended peace process with Israel, that future borders between the two sovereign states follow the lines that existed before the 1967 Six-Day War, with possible land swaps. They hope to establish their state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and want East Jerusalem as its capital. Israel refuses to return to the 1967 borders and to share Jerusalem, which it has already declared its capital.
The UN General Assembly voted in 1947 to divide UK-governed Palestine into Arab and Jewish states, with Jerusalem placed under a special international regime. The partitioning was planned to take place in May 1948, when the British mandate was due to end, but only the state of Israel was established.
Messenger/Mumu
