{"id":367551,"date":"2025-12-25T06:57:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T06:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/367551\/"},"modified":"2025-12-25T06:57:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T06:57:10","slug":"thirteen-european-countries-and-japan-condemn-israels-approval-of-new-west-bank-settlements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/367551\/","title":{"rendered":"Thirteen European countries and Japan condemn Israel\u2019s approval of new West Bank settlements"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Thirteen European countries and Japan have condemned Israel\u2019s 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.\n <\/p>\n

\n \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 fueling instability,\u201d they said in a joint statement<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n The Israeli cabinet approved the legalization<\/a> 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<\/a> on Sunday.\n <\/p>\n

\n 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.\n <\/p>\n

\n Wednesday\u2019s 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.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe 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, live side-by-side in peace and security within secure and recognized borders,\u201d the statement added.\n <\/p>\n

\n Israel\u2019s Foreign Minister rejected the statement, asserting Jewish people have the right to establish a national homeland extending over the entire territory of \u201cMandatory Palestine.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cForeign governments will not restrict the right of Jews to live in the Land of Israel,\u201d he said in a post on X<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n The West Bank, which lies west of the Jordan River between Israel and Jordan, has been occupied by the Israeli military since 1967 and is home to more than 3.3 million Palestinians.\n <\/p>\n

\n Israeli leaders have become ever more explicit in their rejection of a future Palestinian state in the leadup to and since the October 7 Hamas attack, despite international calls for a negotiated solution to the decades-long occupation.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe are blocking on the ground the establishment of a Palestinian terror state. We will continue to develop, build, and settle in the land of our forefathers\u2019 inheritance, with faith in the justice of our path,\u201d Smotrich said in his statement announcing the settlement expansion.\n <\/p>\n

\"Israeli<\/p>\n

\n Israeli settlements overall are considered illegal under international law. Outposts, in addition to being illegal under international law, are also illegal under Israeli law.\n <\/p>\n

\n Settlers establish outposts with the goal of receiving authorization for the illegal buildings in the future. Many of the newly authorized settlements are deep within the West Bank.\n <\/p>\n

\n In May, Israel announced it would establish 22 new settlements in what Israeli settlement watchdog organization Peace Now said was the largest expansion of settlements in more than 30 years.\n <\/p>\n

\n Israel\u2019s current right-wing government has established dozens since its term began in 2023, marking a dramatic acceleration and expansion of settlement activity.\n <\/p>\n

\n At the same time, Israel has also been conducting military operations and Palestinian home demolitions<\/a> in the occupied West Bank, leading to widespread dislocation with UN and Palestinians officials warning the moves amount to forced displacement.\n <\/p>\n

\n Meanwhile Jewish settler attacks on Palestinians and their properties have surged this year, particularly during the olive harvest season in October and November.\n <\/p>\n

\n Dozens of videos filmed by Palestinian farmers and activists have shown masked Israeli settlers carrying clubs and sticks and sometimes wielding rifles while attacking Palestinians and Israeli-Jewish activists standing in solidarity with them.\n <\/p>\n

\n Other videos have shown settlers acting with soldiers nearby, often supporting them.\n <\/p>\n

\n A United Nations report released last month found that Israeli settlers launched at least 264 attacks in October, the largest number since the UN began tracking incidents in 2006. The repeated attacks have marred this year\u2019s olive harvest.\n <\/p>\n

\n The UN has urged Israel, as the occupying power, to prevent further attacks in the West Bank.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe failure to prevent or punish such attacks is inconsistent with international law,\u201d the UN Humanitarian Relief Chief Tom Fletcher warned. \u201cPalestinians must be protected. Impunity cannot prevail. Perpetrators must be held accountable.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thirteen European countries and Japan have condemned Israel\u2019s decision earlier in the month to approve 19 new Jewish…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367552,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-367551","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\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367551\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}