Al-Jazeera / July 1, 2023
The continued expansion of Jewish settlements is an obstacle to peace, the three countries said in a joint statement.
The governments of Australia, Canada [colonial-settler states themselves] and the United Kingdom have said they are “deeply concerned” about recent events in the occupied West Bank, including Israel’s decision to expand its illegal settlements there amid rising violence, saying they “further reduce the prospects for peace”.
“The continued expansion of settlements is an obstacle to peace and negatively impacts efforts to achieve a negotiated two-state solution. We call on the Government of Israel to reverse these decisions,” the foreign ministers of the three countries said in a joint statement released on Saturday.
Israel’s Defence ministry planning committee that oversees settlement construction approved more than 5,000 new settlement homes on June 26. Settlements are considered illegal under international law.
The foreign ministers’ statement also expressed concern about the changes to the settlement approval process approved on June 18, in which far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich was given sweeping powers to expedite their construction, bypassing measures that have been in place for 27 years.
The settlement expansion plans have occurred as violence in the region has intensified in recent weeks.
On June 19, Israeli forces stormed the Jenin refugee camp, deploying the use of helicopter gunships in the occupied West Bank for the first time in 20 years. That raid killed seven Palestinians and injured 91 others.
Palestinian gunmen then targeted Israelis, while Jewish settlers carried out a string of attacks on Palestinian villages.
The Australian, Canadian and British governments condemned violence targeting both Israelis and Palestinians.
They also welcomed the joint statement by Israeli security chiefs equating the Israeli settler attacks to “nationalist terrorism”.
Nearly 750,000 Jewish settlers live in 250 illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, built on land captured by Israel in the 1967 June War.
SOURCE: AL-JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
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UK, Australia and Canada want Israel to reverse its approval of new West Bank Jewish settlements
The National / July 1, 2023
Expansion of Jewish settlements is an obstacle to peace, foreign ministers say in joint statement.
Britain, Australia and Canada have called on Israel’s government to reverse a decision to approve new settlement units in the occupied West Bank, saying they are “deeply concerned” by an ongoing cycle of violence.
This week, Israel approved more than 5,700 new settlement units in the West Bank and earlier this month it instituted changes to the settlement approval process to enable swifter approval of construction.
“The continued expansion of settlements is an obstacle to peace and negatively impacts efforts to achieve a negotiated two-state solution. We call on the Government of Israel to reverse these decisions,” the foreign ministers of Britain, Australia and Canada said in a joint statement.
Violence has been surging in the West Bank, including deadly clashes in Jenin, a fatal shooting by Palestinians near a Jewish settlement, attacks on Palestinian villages by rampaging settlers, and rare use of Israeli air power against militants.
Most countries consider the settlements, built on land captured by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, to be illegal. Their presence is one of the fundamental issues in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Palestinians seek to establish an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as their capital.
