EU Urges Israel to Halt Settlement Expansion
"The Israeli government’s recent decision to allocate significant new funding to settlement expansion in the West Bank is a worrying development," the bloc's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas' office said in a statement on Friday.
The EU said the decision would lead to the "further entrenchment of settlements in sensitive areas of the West Bank and contribute to the fragmentation and isolation of Palestinian communities, leaving them exposed to greater risks of human rights violations."
"The EU reiterates its call on Israel to refrain from further settlement expansion, the legalization of outposts, land appropriation, demolitions, evictions and other unilateral measures that undermine the viability of the two-state solution," the statement said.
Around 500,000 Israeli occupiers live in illegal settlements across the occupied West Bank, in addition to 250,000 living in settlements in occupied East al-Quds, according to the Israeli anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now.
Source: Anadolu
