{"id":369507,"date":"2025-12-24T20:19:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T20:19:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/369507\/"},"modified":"2025-12-24T20:19:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T20:19:07","slug":"uk-canada-and-germany-condemn-israel-for-19-new-west-bank-settlements-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/369507\/","title":{"rendered":"UK, Canada and Germany condemn Israel for 19 new West Bank settlements | Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fourteen countries, including Britain, Canada and Germany, have condemned the Israeli security cabinet\u2019s approval of 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank<\/a>, saying they violate international law and risk fuelling instability.<\/p>\n

Israel approved a proposal last Sunday for the new Jewish settlements<\/a>, which brings the recent total to 69, according to the far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe call on Israel<\/a> to reverse this decision, as well as the expansion of settlements,\u201d said a joint statement released by Britain, which also included Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway and Spain.<\/p>\n

The statement continued: \u201cSuch unilateral actions, as part of a wider intensification of the settlement policies in the West Bank, not only violate international law but also risk fuelling instability.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey risk undermining the implementation of the comprehensive plan for Gaza<\/a> amid efforts to progress to phase 2 and harming prospects for long-term peace and security across the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recall our clear opposition to any form of annexation and to the expansion of settlement policies, including the approval of the E1 settlement and thousands of new housing units.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe call on Israel to reverse this decision, as well as the expansion of settlements, in line with UN security council resolution 2334.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s latest expansion plan includes two settlements that were previously evacuated during a 2005 disengagement plan.<\/p>\n

The approval by the security cabinet increases the number of settlements in the West Bank by nearly 50% during the current government\u2019s tenure. In 2022, there were 141 settlements in the West Bank. After the latest approval there are 210, according to Peace Now, an anti-settlement watchdog group.<\/p>\n

Settlements are considered illegal under international law.<\/p>\n

The 14 countries\u2019 statement added: \u201cWe are resolute in our support of Palestinians\u2019 right of self-determination. We reaffirm our unwavering commitment to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace based on the two-state solution in accordance with relevant UN security council resolutions where two democratic states, Israel and Palestine<\/a>, live side by side in peace and security within secure and recognized borders. We reaffirm that there is no alternative to a negotiated two-state solution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reuters contributed to this report<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fourteen countries, including Britain, Canada and Germany, have condemned the Israeli security cabinet\u2019s approval of 19 new settlements…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369508,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-369507","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}