European countries urge Israel to halt planned settlement expansion
Five foreign ministries call on Israel to scuttle plans to build more West Bank settlements.
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.
They warned the move “will cause further damage to the prospects for a viable Palestinian State” and “undermines efforts to rebuild trust between the parties, following the positive resumption of Israeli-Palestinian cooperation.”
Iran has given the green light for a 540-unit development beyond the Green Line in Har Homa, a neighborhood situated between East Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Bethlehem. Israel has also awarded contracts for some 1,200 housing units in the nearby Jewish neighborhood of Givat Hamatos.
