Ministers from the UK, France, Germany and Italy join the US in saying planned expansion in the occupied West Bank will increase tensions between Israelis and Palestinians.
The foreign ministers of five western powers say they are “deeply concerned” by the far-right Israeli government’s decision to go ahead with building thousands of settlement units in the occupied West Bank.
Ministers from the UK, France, Germany and Italy followed the US on Tuesday in denouncing the planned enlargement.
“We firmly oppose these unilateral actions, which will only serve to increase tensions between Israelis and Palestinians and undermine efforts to reach a negotiated two-state solution,” they said in a statement.
“We continue to support a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East, which must be achieved through direct negotiations between the parties.”
Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt also condemned Israel’s plans.
“The Israeli settlement policy on occupied land contradicts international law and must be stopped,” Huitfeldt told the Norwegian news agency NTB.
Israeli settlement plans have also been condemned by Israel’s Arab neighbors Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
However, Israel’s hard-line security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, said he wanted to see more Jewish settlements. “The land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel,” he said in a video message.
“Contradictions are allowed”
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet unanimously approved the legalization of nine settlement outposts and said it would soon approve more construction in existing settlements.
Ben-Gvir added: “This is our mission. This is our lesson. Nine settlements are nice, but not enough. We want a lot more.”
Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said about 10,000 new homes need approval.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday he was “deeply concerned” by Israel’s decision, but gave no indication that the US would act against Israel.
Smotrich responded to Blinken’s rebuke by saying his government had “clarified our position toward Americans” and “disagreements are allowed, even between friends.”
Ultranationalists opposed to Palestinian statehood make up a large part of the new Israeli government, which has placed settlement building at the top of its priorities.
Smotrich, a religious ultra-nationalist settler, said he and his allies are “determined to completely lift building restrictions in the occupied West Bank.”
A longtime leader of the settlers, Smotrich was promised authority over the defense agency responsible for building West Bank settlements as part of his coalition deal with Netanyahu.
He said once given those powers, he would act to “normalize” the lives of more than 500,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
‘Really doesn’t matter’
Rami Khouri of Harvard Kennedy School in Boston said it remains to be seen whether Americans and Europeans are “serious” about applying international law to Israelis.
“Or will they only make statements when Israel does something illegal and criminal? The Israelis have been doing this since 1947 – they are taking Palestinian land. These are historical trends that are really being settled right now,” Khouri said.
Statements by Western powers are unlikely to have much effect on Israeli hardliners, he told Al Jazeera.
“They don’t really care because they’ve never faced real sanctions or accountability… Israelis have never suffered from pressure, so they keep doing what they’re doing.”
Israel conquered the West Bank along with East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Middle East War. The Palestinians seek these areas for a future independent state.
Most of the international community sees the Israeli settlements as illegal and an obstacle to peace. About 700,000 Israeli settlers live in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.