Five EU states urge a halt to settlements in occupied lands

These five European countries said in a joint statement on Friday, Reuters reported.

The countries of Germany, France, UK, Italy and Spain in a joint statement condemned expansion of settlements by occupying Israeli regime and called for an immediate halt.

“We are deeply concerned by the decision taken by the Israeli authorities to advance more than 4,900 settlement building units in the occupied West Bank,” the joint statement said.

“The expansion of settlements violates international law and further imperils the viability of a two-state solution to bring about a just and lasting peace to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” it said.

The UN envoy to the region, Nikolai Mladinov, said in a statement: "On October 14 -15, Israeli officials approved a plan to build about 5,000 new housing units in the West Bank, but this move is illegal and against the international laws. These settlements are one of the most important obstacles to peace (compromise) between Israel and Palestine. Such actions jeopardize the two-state solution.

Earlier, EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell issued a statement, calling settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories ‘illegal’ and called the Zionist regime to end development of settlements in these lands.

Thanks to the passivity of the Arab reactionaries and support of the United States, the Zionist regime has announced its plans to develop the Zionist settlements.

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