Western nations warn Israel to end illegal settlement expansion, violence
Nine countries including the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Belgium and Ireland issued a joint statement calling Israel's settlement expansion and settler violence in the occupied West Bank a 'breach of international law.' The countries said concrete sanctions measures are on the table.
The joint statement, released by the UK Foreign Office on Friday, targets 28 new settlement unit approvals and 247 settler attack incidents recorded in the West Bank over the past six months. The nine signatory countries called on Israel's Settlement Dispute Resolution Ministry to 'immediately halt all settlement expansion' and 'effectively prosecute settler violence.' The document cites the Fourth Geneva Convention and UN Security Council resolution 2334.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said in his statement: 'Settlement expansion is foreclosing the prospect of a two-state solution; together with our partners we will implement, by the end of June, personalised financial sanctions targeting the leaders of the settler movement.' German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said in a parallel statement from Berlin: 'While Germany takes its historic responsibility, it will not be silent in the face of a breach of international law.' French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said France will table at the EU Council meeting on June 5 the suspension of Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lior Haiat replied on X: 'This statement is a reward to Hamas and ignores Israel's security concerns.' Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet called an emergency meeting for Monday. Palestinian Authority spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh called the statement 'an important but insufficient step in the right direction' and requested that the demand for full UN Security Council membership be brought to a fresh vote in June. U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said: 'We share the concerns of our allies, but believe that the sanctions approach reduces the space for diplomacy.'
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