August 22, 2025 | 02:15 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A total of 21 countries, including the United Kingdom and France, signed a joint statement on Thursday, August 21, 2025. They stated that Israel's plan to build a large settlement in the West Bank is unacceptable and a violation of international law.
Israel approved the plan to build settlements on a 12-square-kilometer land known as E1, east of Jerusalem, last Wednesday.
"We condemn this decision and call for its immediate reversal in the strongest terms," said the foreign ministers, also signed by Australia, Canada, and Italy, as quoted from Al Arabiya.
Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden also signed the statement. The head of foreign affairs for the European Commission did too.
The statement noted that Israel's right-wing Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said the plan would make the two-state solution impossible by dividing the State of Palestine. Palestinian access to Jerusalem is also restricted.
"This brings no benefits to the Israeli people," said the foreign ministers. "Instead, it risks undermining security and fuels further violence and instability, taking us further away from peace. The government of Israel still has an opportunity to stop the E1 plan going any further. We encourage them to urgently retract this plan."
Israel plans to build around 3,400 homes on highly sensitive land, located between Jerusalem and the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim. All Israeli settlements in the West Bank, occupied since 1967, are considered illegal under international law, regardless of whether they have Israeli planning permission.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) based in Ramallah condemned Israel's move. So did UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Last Thursday, the UK summoned Israel's Ambassador to Britain, Tzipi Hotovely, to the Foreign Ministry to protest the decision. "If implemented, these settlement plans would be a flagrant breach of international law and would divide a future Palestinian state in two, critically undermining a two-state solution," said the British Foreign Ministry.
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