Brussels, 26/04/2012 (Agence Europe) - The EU high representative for foreign affairs, Catherine Ashton, called on the Israeli authorities on Wednesday 25 April to go back on their decision to legalise three unauthorised settlements - Sansana, Rechelim and Bruchin - in the Palestinian occupied territories. She said she was “extremely concerned” and pointed out that the EU had, on several occasions, called on Israel to end all settlement activity, saying settlements are “illegal under international law, an obstacle to peace and threaten the viability of a two-state solution”.
British Foreign Minister William Hague said for his part that he condemned the decision and urged the Israeli government to annul it. He said: “By seeking to entrench illegal settlements in the West Bank, as this decision does, the Israeli government risks sending the message that it is not serious about its stated commitment to the goal of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”. Hague explained that the United Kingdom, like all its EU partners, calls on Israel to heed its “international friends”. Sweden's Foreign Minister Carl Bildt stressed: “We are deeply troubled by the latest initiatives taken by Israel on settlement policy”, adding: “This undermines any chance of peace”.
Bruchin and Rechelim, to the north of the West Bank, are home to 350 and 240 residents respectively. Sansana, to the south of Palestinian territory, hosts 240 settlers. A further 120 settlements, scattered throughout the West Bank, are home to over 340,000 and have official status. (CG/transl.jl)