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EU deplores Israel’s settlement plan

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The European Union has denounced a new decision by the Israeli regime to expand its illegal settlement activities in the occupied West Bank.

EU Foreign Policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement on Thursday that the European Union “deplores” the Tel Aviv regime’s recent plan to build more than 1,800 new settler units in the occupied Palestinian territory.

On November 3, Tel Aviv published tenders for the construction of a total of 1,859 new illegal settler homes in the West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem) despite widespread international criticism of the regime’s settlement expansion.

“The EU has repeatedly stated that settlements are illegal under international law,” Ashton stated.

“Any actions that could hamper or undermine the ongoing [Israeli-Palestinian] negotiations must be avoided.”

The Palestinian Authority also condemned the Israeli decision on November 3.

“There will be no peace or stability in the region without the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem (al-Quds) as its capital,” the Palestinian Authority stated.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry has described the Israeli settlement activities as “illegitimate.”

Kerry has said, “At no time did the Palestinians in any way agree, as a matter of going back to the talks, that they could somehow condone or accept the settlements.”

The Israeli regime has built more than 120 settlements in the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds since its occupation of the lands in 1967. Tel Aviv continues with expanding the settlement construction.

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