European nations, Canada decry Israel’s new, illegal West Bank settlements 

Fourteen countries, including Britain, Canada, Denmark and France, have condemned Israel’s approval of 19 new ⁠settlements in the occupied West Bank, saying ​the move was illegal and jeopardised the Gaza ceasefire and “long-term peace and security across the region”.

The countries said Israel’s actions “violate international law” and risked undermining the fragile truce in Gaza as mediators work to implement the second phase of the ceasefire in a war that has seen Israeli forces kill almost 71,000 Palestinians.

“We, States of Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom condemn the approval by the Israeli security cabinet of 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank,” according to a joint statement.

“We recall our clear opposition to any form of annexation and to the expansion of settlement policies,” the countries said, adding: “We call on Israel to reverse this decision, as well as the expansion of settlements.”

“We are resolute in our support of Palestinians’ right of self-determination. We reaffirm our unwavering commitment to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace based on the Two-State solution.”

On Sunday, Israel’s far-right-wing Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced that authorities had greenlit the settlements plan, explicitly saying that the decision was aimed at preventing the establishment of a future Palestinian state.

“We are stopping the establishment of a Palestinian terrorist state on the ground,” Smotrich said in announcing the plan. “We will continue to develop, build and settle in the land of our ancestors,” he said, according to The Times of Israel.

Smotrich also said the Israeli government “has approved for construction or retroactively legalised 69 new settlements since it took office at the end of 2022,” The Times of Israel reported.

Earlier this month, the United Nations said the expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory – all of which are illegal under international law – had reached its highest level since at least 2017.

The UN considers Israel’s settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank a major obstacle to a peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians, as the illegal constructions leave little contiguous territory for Palestinians and a future independent Palestinian state under a two-state solution.

Al Jazeera’s correspondent Nour Odeh said the decision by the Israeli government was changing the reality on the ground for Palestinians, as many of the settlement outposts formalised in the latest decision are concentrated in the northeastern part of the West Bank, which had traditionally seen very little settlement activity.

“While these government decisions may seem bureaucratic, they are in fact strategic in nature,” Odeh wrote earlier this month.

“They support the more ideological and often more violent settlers entrenching their presence and taking over yet more Palestinian land, and becoming more brazen in their attacks against Palestinians, which are unprecedented in scope and effect,” she said.