Israel has condemned a joint statement by 14 countries — including Ireland, France and Britain — that denounced its approval of new settlements in the occupied West Bank as illegal under international law, with senior officials calling the criticism discriminatory and vowing to press ahead.
“Foreign governments will not restrict the right of Jews to live in the land of Israel, and any such call is morally wrong and discriminatory against Jews,” Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, said. “The cabinet decision to establish 11 new settlements and to formalise eight additional settlements is intended, among other things, to help address the security threats Israel is facing.”
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On Sunday, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right figure in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, said authorities had greenlit the settlements. He framed the move as part of a broader push to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.
The coordinated rebuke — signed by Ireland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee and 13 of her counterparts — warned that “such unilateral actions violate international law” and risk undermining a fragile cease-fire in Gaza said to be in force since Oct. 10. The countries reaffirmed what they called their “unwavering commitment to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace based on the two-state solution,” envisioning Israel and Palestine living “side-by-side in peace and security.”
Israel captured the West Bank during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and has maintained a military occupation ever since. Excluding east Jerusalem, which Israel occupied and later annexed in 1967, more than 500,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements alongside about 3 million Palestinian residents.
The United Nations said earlier this month that the pace of settlement expansion — which it deems illegal under international law — has reached its highest level since at least 2017, deepening concerns among diplomats and rights advocates that the viability of a two-state outcome is eroding.
The latest approvals, which include establishing 11 new settlements and formalizing eight others previously considered unauthorized outposts, add to a decadeslong pattern of expanding Israeli civilian presence in occupied territory. Supporters inside the government say the steps answer security needs and the rights of Israelis to live across the biblical heartland; critics abroad say they entrench the occupation, inflame tensions and complicate any negotiated partition of the land between Israelis and Palestinians.
While the joint statement did not list specific repercussions, European capitals have increasingly coordinated their messaging on settlement activity, warning that further expansion risks destabilizing the West Bank and derailing efforts to build on the Gaza cease-fire. The signatories’ emphasis on international law and the two-state framework underscores a widening gulf with a segment of Israel’s governing coalition that explicitly rejects Palestinian statehood.
Israel has long disputed the view that settlements violate international law, a position at odds with most of the international community and U.N. bodies. Successive Israeli governments have approved construction, with periodic freezes or slowdowns tied to diplomatic negotiations that have been dormant for years.
Sunday’s announcement and the swift foreign pushback signal that settlements remain a flashpoint of Israel’s relations with key European partners at a moment of heightened regional volatility. Whether the condemnations translate into concrete policy measures or remain declarative is likely to shape the next phase of diplomacy around the West Bank, Gaza and the battered prospects for a two-state solution.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
