The main colonization plan in West Bank approved this Wednesday, August 20 by Israel is “unacceptable” and represents “a violation of international law,” 21 countries condemned on Thursday, including the United Kingdom and France, in a joint statement.
“We condemn this decision and ask for the greatest firmness that is canceled immediately,” added foreign ministers in these countries.
The key construction project of 3,400 houses in the West Bank, a territory occupied by Israel since 1967, should reduce this Palestinian territory by two, compromising any territorial continuity of a possible Palestinian state.
“It has never been more distant” of the solution of two states
The measures taken by the Israeli government “compromise our common desire to guarantee security and prosperity in the Middle East”, denounce the leaders of diplomacy in the 21 countries, including Canada, Spain, Italy. The Chief of Diplomacy of the European Union, Kaja Kallas, is also a signatory of the text.
They ask the Israeli government to “end the construction of colonies” and that “raise the financial restrictions imposed on the Palestinian authority.”
In London, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Israel ambassador on Thursday, Tzipi Hotovely. The project was also denounced by the UN the previous day.
“We have never been further from the solution of two states than today,” said Philippe Lazzarini, head of the United Nations Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).
The Israeli government “makes decisions that will make more and more impossible to create these two states,” he deplored.
Colonization since 1967
Excluding the east of Jerusalem, occupied and annexed by Israel, about three million Palestinians live in the West Bank along with around 500,000 Israelis installed in colonies that the UN judges illegal with respect to international law.
The colonization of the West Bank, Jordan’s border, continued under all the Israeli governments, from the left and the right, since 1967.
He clearly intensified under the current government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, particularly since the beginning of the war in Gaza, was activated after the unprecedented attack against the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Israel on October 7, 2023.
The confrontations, sometimes mortal, between the local Palestinian populations, the settlers of the army and the Jews have multiplied there. The Israeli authorities strongly restrict the movements of the Palestinians of the West Bank, arrogant tributaries to cross the control points and enter Jerusalem east or in Israel.
Source: BFM TV
