The foreign ministers of 19 countries, including 9 EU Member States (Brazil, France, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Egypt, Jordan, Luxembourg, Norway, Palestine, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Turkey) and the secretaries-general of the League of Arab States and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation condemned “in the strongest terms”, on Monday 23 February, a series of recent Israeli decisions that considerably extend Israel’s illegal control over the West Bank.
In a joint statement, they called on the Israeli government to immediately reverse these measures, to respect its international obligations and to refrain from any action likely to permanently alter the legal and administrative status of the occupied Palestinian territory.
These decisions follow the unprecedented acceleration of Israeli settlement policy, with the approval of the E1 project and the publication of its tender. “Such actions are a deliberate and direct attack on the viability of the Palestinian state and the implementation of the two-state solution“, the ministers denounced.
In addition, in view of the “alarming“ escalation in the West Bank, they called on Israel to put an end to the violence perpetrated by settlers against Palestinians, in particular by bringing those responsible to justice, and reaffirmed their commitment to taking concrete measures to counter the expansion of settlements and the policies and threats of forced displacement and annexation.
The ministers also called for the immediate payment by Israel of tax revenues owed to the Palestinian Authority.
See the statement: https://aeur.eu/f/kvp (in French) (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)