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LAST UPDATE | 28 Oct 2021
TWELVE COUNTRIES, INCLUDING Ireland, have released a joint statement calling on Israel to reverse its decision to construct 3,000 settlement units in the West Bank – after US President Joe Biden criticised its old ally for the decision.
Word of the approval came from Hagit Ofran from the anti-settlement group Peace Now. An Israeli security official who was not authorised to speak publicly also said the plan had been approved, but details were not immediately released by Israel.
A statement by spokespersons of the foreign ministries of Ireland, Denmark, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain and Sweden said this afternnoon:
“We urge the Government of Israel to reverse its decision to advance plans for the construction of around 3,000 settlement units in the West Bank.
“We reiterate our strong opposition to its policy of settlement expansion across the Occupied Palestinian Territories, which violates international law and undermines efforts for the two-state solution.
“We call on both parties to build on steps taken in recent months to improve cooperation and reduce tensions. We reiterate our call to implement United Nations Resolution 2334 with all its provisions, with the aim of rebuilding trust and creating the conditions necessary for promoting peace.”
Israel’s plan came to light a day after the US voiced publicly its concern about Israeli settlements in the West Bank, saying it will “strongly oppose” such expansion on occupied Palestinian land.
It was the biggest announcement of its kind since the Trump administration, which tolerated settlement growth and abandoned the decades-long US position that the settlements were illegitimate.
Israel embarked on an aggressive settlement spree during the Trump years, advancing plans for more than 12,000 settler homes in 2020 alone, according to Peace Now, the highest number since it started collecting data in 2012.
The ministry’s higher planning council, which authorises West Bank construction, convened on Tuesday to authorise the new housing units, with roughly half of them getting final approval before building starts.
Israel is expected to discuss the approval of at least 1,300 Palestinian homes next week.
If confirmed, yesterday’s decision is bound to raise friction with the United States and Europe and anger the Palestinians.
It also seemed poised to test Israel’s fragile governing coalition of ultra-nationalists, centrists and dovish parties that oppose settlements after the 12-year rule of the former prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Now, everybody knows that this is not a government of change, but this is a government with the same policy as Netanyahu to build more settlements, to deepen the occupation and to take us away from the chances for peace,” Ofran said.
Sabri Saidam, deputy secretary general of the Fatah Central Committee, turned his ire on the Biden administration and other countries protesting the plan, challenging the international community to “move from words to deeds and to express (their) views, by doing and not only condemning”.
Saidam added: “The Israeli government is implementing the so-called Trump plan, and the Biden administration is almost absent.”
On Tuesday, the US State Department said that it was “deeply concerned” about Israel’s plans to advance new settlement homes, including many deep inside the West Bank.
Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, protested the plan during a call with the Israeli defence minister, Benny Gantz, according to a senior US official who was not authorised to speak publicly.
At a press briefing the same day, State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters in Washington: “We strongly oppose the expansion of settlements, which is completely inconsistent with efforts to lower tensions and to ensure calm and damages the prospects for a two-state solution.”
The Palestinians seek the West Bank, along with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem — areas Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war — for their future state. The Palestinians view the settlements, which house about 700,000 Israelis, as the main obstacle to peace, and most of the international community considers them illegal.
Israel views the West Bank, home to more than 2.5 million Palestinians, as the biblical and historical heartland of the Jewish people.
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Joe, why don’t you just stop signing all those cheques for Israel and their military? Just don’t sign off on the next mitary supplies shipment. Words are meaningless when you give them $4 billion in military aid per annum and guarantee their loans too.
@Stephen Rogan: Its true. Appeasement and hypocrisy. However, US financial and military funding to Israel is a matter for Congress. It’ll be a cold day in hell that Capitol Hill doesn’t back Israel, I daresay. Its up to others, like the EU, to tackle Israeli mistreatment of people on its own territory.
@Eoin Roche: The clearly laid it out to the Brit Tories, no messing with the Good Friday Agreement, or else no future trade deal with the US.
Yes, he can do the same with Israel if the political will was there. someone, somewhere among the US political establishment will have to step up some day and lay it out straight for the Israeli’s.
Evil.
Imagine the Irish Government being able to occupy and rezone land, fast track planning and then build 3000 homes. We should get some Israeli property developers over here to build houses on state land and leave the unfortunate Palestinians alone…
@David Lynch: and build them on other people’s land
They don’t give any thought to what anyone else thinks. They do what ever they want and wherever they want. The words from the US are hollow to say the least. Just keep on sending them money and military equipment …
Well of course. Condemnation doesn’t do much, does it? Actions do. Withdraw some supports if you want things to change. This is not a government willing to compromise
“The term Palestine has been associated variously and sometimes controversially with this small region, which some have asserted also includes Jordan. Both the geographic area designated by the name and the political status of it have changed over the course of some three millennia. The region (or at least a part of it) is also known as the Holy Land and is held sacred among Jews, Christians, and Muslims.
The word Palestine derives from Philistia. The name was revived by the Romans in the 2nd century CE in “Syria Palaestina,” and made its way thence into Arabic, where it has been used to describe the region at least since the early Islamic era. After Roman times the name had no official status until after World War I and the end of rule by the Ottoman Empire.”
@Tom Molloy: and your point is ?
@Tom Molloy: Well the Israelis have no difficulty identifying Palestinians – and evicting them.
@Shem: Dumbo.
Great to see Israel flourishing and growing stronger despite the it’s many enemies.
Here goes Ireland again worrying about someone else’s problems…
Pandemic, housing crisis, climate rip-off “plan” all sorted.
Kinda like a guy who worries about his friend’s necktie when he has no pants…
Ireland – where they’re is no indoor hospitality venue available for anyone not taking part in a global drug trial,
but we stand in criticism of others!
Bit like giving a mass murderer a slap on the wrist and telling him ‘please don’t do it again’.
Land given to Jewish people after ww2 it’s ours to use as we please
Pathetic really. Most of those 12 countries wouldn’t have uttered a word if the US hadn’t said anything. All hot air anyway, on Oct 18, Italy, France, Germany and the US as well as the UK, India and Greece began joint Air Force drills with Israel which do not finish until the 30th. Talking out of both sides of their mouth. This constant engagement with what is patently a racist entity ie Israel has to stop. Good luck with that!
Pity our government wasn’t as concerned about China’s ongoing genocide. Israel is an easy target. You can’t take anything they say on Israel seriously as long as they’re cosying up to China.
Say what you like about the nasty auld Israelis, they get houses built. Maybe our government could sit up and take note..
have your say