[ad_1]
The European Union’s representative office to the Palestinian territories said on Friday (August 2) that Israel built the most settlements in the occupied West Bank last year since the Oslo Accords in the 1990s.
Plans to build 12,349 homes in the West Bank have been approved, the European Union office said, warning that the move would have implications for a potential two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The EU office said planning processes were advanced for another 18,333 units in annexed East Jerusalem.
The total number – 30,682 in the West Bank and East Jerusalem – is the highest since 2012, it added.
The report comes amid heightened tensions in the West Bank and East Jerusalem over the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which has been raging since October 7.
“The EU has repeatedly called on Israel not to proceed with its settlement policy plans and to cease all settlement activities,” the EU office said.
“The EU’s firm position remains that settlements are illegal in violation of international law.
“Israel’s decision to move forward with plans to approve and build new settlements in 2023 further undermines the prospects for a viable two-state solution.”
All settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank since 1967 are considered illegal under international law, regardless of whether they have Israeli planning permission.
Dozens of unauthorized settlements have sprung up in these areas, ranging from a few pitched tents to prefabricated huts connected to public electricity and water sources.
In addition to East Jerusalem, there are currently about 490,000 Israeli settlers and about 3 million Palestinians living in the West Bank. The far-right parties in Israel’s ruling coalition have been demanding the acceleration of settlement expansion.
Since the outbreak of the Gaza war, violent clashes between Palestinians and Israeli troops and settlers have intensified.
At least 594 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops and settlers in the West Bank since October 7, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian Health Ministry data.
During the same period, at least 17 Israelis, including soldiers, were killed in Palestinian attacks in the West Bank, according to official Israeli data.
The landmark Oslo Accords established mutual recognition between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization and provisional Palestinian self-government.
Last year, one of the architects of the agreement, Norwegian peace worker Jan Egeland, told AFP he now considered the accord to be dead.
Read more by Euractiv
[ad_2]
Source link
