Government condemns new Israeli settlement plans

The government has joined the EU in condemning Israel’s decision to approve a plan for new settlements in the Givat Hamatos neighbourhood in east Jerusalem.

“We are concerned that this latest announcement will seriously undermine the viability of a two-state solution,” a Foreign Affairs Ministry said. “This latest announcement puts into question Israel’s commitment to a peaceful negotiated settlement with the Palestinians.”

“We therefore call on the Israeli government to reverse its decision and revise its settlement policy in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.”

The Ministry reiterated the EU’s and its own position that such settlements are illegal under international law and only undermine prospects for a peaceful two-state solution.

Israel’s decision to advance plans for the construction of 2,610 settlement units in Givat Hamatos have been met with a strong international backlash.

An EU statement said that they “will not recognize any changes to the pre-1967 borders, including with regard to Jerusalem, other than those agreed by the parties” and that “the future development of relations between the EU and Israel will depend on the latter’s engagement towards a lasting peace based on a two-state solution.” 

The White House and U.S. State Department said that these new settlements will “poison the atmosphere” between Israel and the Palestinians.

Israeli Prime Minister Binjamin Netanyahu said that he was “baffled” by the US reaction.

“What if I said to you in any part of the United States or the world, “Jews cannot buy apartments here?”” Netanyahu told an interviewer on MSNBC.