EU calls on Israel to end illegal homes in West Bank

ANKARA-Anadolu Agency

The European Union on Nov. 4 called on Israel to end all activity regarding illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.

"In October 2019, Israeli authorities approved the advancement of well over 2.000 housing units in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. The European Union's position on Israeli settlement policy in the occupied Palestinian territory is clear and remains unchanged: all settlement activity is illegal under international law," an EU spokesperson said in a written statement.

The statement added that Israel's illegal settlement policy "erodes the viability of the two-state solution and the prospects for a lasting peace."

United Nations Security Council's Resolution 2334 stipulates that Israel stop such activity and fulfill its obligations as an occupying power under the Fourth Geneva Convention.

"Israeli authorities also approved a building permit for the construction of a new tunnel road, which bypasses Bethlehem to the west. The progressive construction of a separate road network, connecting settlements and outposts to each other and to the road network in Israel while circumventing Palestinian towns and communities, is entrenching the fragmentation of the West Bank," the statement read.

"The EU calls on Israel to end all settlement activity, in line with its obligations as an occupying power," it added.

EU will continue to support a negotiated two-state solution, according to the statement.

Roughly 650,000 Israeli Jews currently live on more than 100 settlements built since 1967, when Israel occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The Palestinians want these territories -- along with the Gaza Strip -- for the establishment of a future Palestinian state.

International law views both the West Bank and East Jerusalem as "occupied territories" and considers all Jewish settlement-building activity there as illegal.