Location at an overview: Federal government criticizes settlement plans in the West Bank

The federal government has reacted with sharp criticism to the Israeli plans for the construction of thousands of new residential units in West Bank. “The settlement construction violates international law and relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council,” said a spokesman for the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin. “He complicates a negotiated two -state solution and an end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, as the International Court of Justice demands.”

The Israeli Finance Minister Bezhalel Smotrich recently announced plans for the construction of around 3,400 residential units in the E1 area between East Jerusalem and the Maale Adumim settlement. The area is one of the most sensitive points in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. The West Bank would actually divide its development into a northern and a southern part and make a coherent territory to a future Palestinian state considerably difficult, if not impossible.

EU: Settlement plans violate international law

The European Union and Turkey also criticized the settlement plans. Such one-sided decisions “exacerbate the already tense situation on site and continue to undermine every possibility for peace,” said external representative EU-Kaja Kallas, according to a message. According to their words, they also violate international law.

“We condemn the Israeli approval of the settlement plan for area E1,” said a statement by the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “This step, which will separate the West Bank of East Jerusalem, disregards international law and UN resolutions and attacks the territorial integrity of the state of Palestine, which is the basis for a two-state solution and hope of permanent peace.”

Finance Minister Smotrich threatens annexion

Israel’s right -wing extremist finance minister Smotrich also threatened to annex the West Bank, and a Palestinian state should be recognized in the coming month. “You have no chance, there will be no Palestinian state,” said Smotrich during a press conference, aimed at several countries that want to announce recognition at the United Nations General Assembly in September. “If a Palestinian state recognizes her in September, our answer will be to assert full Israeli sovereignty in all areas of Judea and Samaria (Hebrew name for the West Bank).”

In 1967, Israel had conquered the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the Six Day War, where today more than 700,000 settlers live in the middle of around three million Palestinians. According to international law, the settlements there are illegal. “The Federal Government calls on the Israeli government to hire the settlement construction and will only recognize such changes to the borders of June 4, 1967, which have been agreed by the conflict parties,” said the spokesman for the Foreign Ministry. “The Federal Government clearly rejects any annexation plans of the Israeli government.”

Israeli settlers attack Palestinian villages

Meanwhile, Israeli settlers, according to media reports, attacked two towns in the West Bank. Several Palestinians were injured in an attack on the village of Susja in the south, as the newspaper “The Times of Israel” reported. In Atara in the center of the West Bank, settlers thus hurled fire sets on houses and cars. In the West Bank, there are always attacks of radical settlers on Palestinians. The perpetrators are rarely held accountable.