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European countries urge Israel to halt planned settlement expansion

Five foreign ministries call on Israel to scuttle plans to build more West Bank settlements.

Sheikh Jarrah
Israeli border guards stand guard by a house decorated with the Star of David and an Israeli flag, in front of which Israeli Knesset member Itamar Ben-Gvir of the Jewish Power (Otzma Yehudit) party has set up a makeshift legislative office, in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem on May 6, 2021. There have been confrontations between Israeli security and Palestinian demonstrators backing Palestinian families facing eviction as part of an ongoing effort by Jewish Israelis to take control of homes in the neighborhood. — AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images

The governments of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom are urging Israel to call off plans to construct more Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. 

"We urge the government of Israel to reverse its decision to advance the construction of 540 settlement units in the Har Homa E area of the occupied West Bank, and to cease its policy of settlement expansion across the Occupied Palestinian Territories," the foreign ministries of the five European countries said in a joint statement on Thursday. 

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