The Diplomat
Spain yesterday issued a joint communiqué with Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom, calling on Israel to reverse its decision to promote the construction of 540 housing units in the settlement in the Har Homa E area of East Jerusalem.
The communiqué, issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, calls on Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to end its “policy of settlement expansion in the occupied Palestinian territories”. “The settlements are illegal under international law and threaten the prospects for a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The five countries indicate that “if implemented, the decision to promote settlements in Har Homa, between East Jerusalem and Bethlehem, will further damage the prospects for a viable Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as the capital of both Israel and a Palestinian state”.
They also stress that the move, along with the settlement developments in Givat Hamatos and the continuing evictions in East Jerusalem, including those in Sheikh Jarrah, “also undermine efforts to rebuild trust between the parties, following the positive resumption of Israeli-Palestinian cooperation”.
They conclude by calling on both sides to “refrain from any unilateral action and to resume a credible dialogue to advance efforts to achieve the two-state solution and an end to the conflict”.
