Saudi Arabia ‘strongly condemns’ Israeli settlement in West Bank

Israel advanced plans to build 800 new settler homes in the occupied West Bank, a move that could strain ties with the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden. (File/AP)

• Kingdom says the move is a threat to peace, undermines efforts for a two-state solution
• France also says it condemns Netanyahu's plan

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday “strongly condemned” Israel’s decision to establish 800 settlement units in the West Bank, Saudi Press Agency reported.
“The ministry renewed its categorical rejection of this move as a new violation of decisions of international legitimacy, a threat to peace and undermines the efforts for a two-state solution,” the statement added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered construction plans advanced on Monday for some 800 Jewish settler homes in the occupied West Bank, anchoring the projects in the final days of the pro-settlement Trump administration.
Palestinians condemned such construction as illegal and most countries view Israeli settlements as violating international law.
An announcement by Netanyahu’s office said the homes would be built in the settlements of Beit El and Givat Zeev, north of Jerusalem, and in Tal Menashe, Rehelim, Shavei Shomron, Barkan and Karnei Shomron in the northern West Bank. It gave no starting date for construction.
Palestinians seek to establish a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital, all land captured by Israel in a 1967 war.
“It is an attempt to race against time and benefit from the last days of the current US administration,” Wasel Abu Youssef, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, told Reuters.
The Trump administration has effectively backed Israel’s right to build West Bank settlements by abandoning a long-held US position that they break international law.
Gayil Talshir, a political scientist at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, said Netanyahu wants the settlement move “to be set in stone before the Biden administration comes into office, and maybe changes Israeli-American tacit understandings on settlements that existed under Trump.”
Netanyahu also wants to tell voters he is “the only leader who can stand up to Biden and make sure he doesn’t dictate our policy in the (Palestinian) territories,” Talshir said.
Most countries view Israeli settlements as violating international law. More than 440,000 Israeli settlers now live among 3 million Palestinians who have limited self-rule under Israeli occupation.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a senior adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said all settlements are illegal and in violation of the international law and UN’s Security Council resolutions.
He said there will no security or stability in the region without the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry also expressed its concern over the announcement. It said such measures only undermine the chances for a two-state solution.
The EU also renewed its opposition to the Israeli settlement policy in the occupied Palestinian territories.
“Settlement activities are in violation of the international law and undermine the peace process,” said a spokesman for the European External Action Service in Brussels.
France on Tuesday also condemned Israel’s move, and in a statement the Foreign Ministry urged Israeli authorities to drop the plan.
Referring to Israel and the Palestinians, who seek a state in Israeli-occupied territory, it said: “(We) call on the parties to avoid any unilateral measures that could jeopardize the two-state solution founded on international law and agreed parameters.”