The group includes Germany, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom.
They condemned Israel’s actions, saying they “not only violate international law, but also risk fomenting instability,” according to a joint statement posted on the German foreign ministry’s website.
Approving new settlements also risks undermining the Gaza peace plan and damaging “prospects for long-term peace and security in the entire region.”
Israel recently approved the creation of 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank. In 1967, Israel took control of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, where today more than 700,000 settlers live among about 3 million Palestinians.
The settlements are illegal under international law.
The United Nations considers Israeli settlements a major obstacle to a peace solution because they would leave little contiguous territory for the Palestinians in a possible two-state solution that would allow Israel and an independent Palestinian state to coexist peacefully.
(Vijesti.ba)
