Thirteen European countries and Japan have condemned Israel’s decision earlier in the month to approve 19 new Jewish settlements in the Occupied West Bank saying the move harmed the prospects for long term peace and security in the region.
“Such unilateral actions, as part of a wider intensification of the settlement policies in the West Bank, not only violate international law but also risk fueling instability,” they said in a joint statement.
The Israeli cabinet approved the legalization and establishment of 19 settler outposts on December 11, according to an Israeli source familiar with the matter. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, himself a settler, announced the move in a social media post on Sunday.
The decision authorizes 19 outposts across the West Bank, including two that were evacuated in the 2005 disengagement plan, and it comes at a time when Israeli settler violence there towards Palestinians has surged.
Wednesday’s joint statement was issued by the states of Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom.
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