REUTERS – The British government said on Monday it deplored an Israeli decision to appropriate a large swath of land inside the West Bank, saying the move would seriously damage Israel's international reputation.
On Sunday, Israel announced the appropriation of land in the Etzion Jewish settlement bloc near Bethlehem, a move which an anti-settlement group said was the biggest such claim in 30 years.
"The U.K. deplores the Israeli government's expropriation of 988 acres (1.54 square miles) of land around the settlement of Etzion," British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said, in a statement which echoed U.S. calls to reverse the decision.
- "This is a particularly ill-judged decision that comes at a time when the priority must be to build on the cease-fire in Gaza. It will do serious damage to Israel's standing in the international community," Hammond said.
Some 500,000 Israelis live among 2.4 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, territory that the Jewish state captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.613513
1/9/14
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Israel seizes 400 hectares of West Bank land.....US official describes as "counterproductive" Israeli announcement to appropriate land, said to be largest in 30 years....
ReplyDeleteThe United States has urged Israel to reverse its decision to seize nearly 400 hectares of land in the occupied West Bank, a move anti-settlement activists termed the largest land grab in 30 years.
Israel announced the massive land appropriation on Sunday in the Etzion settlement bloc near Bethlehem just days after Gaza ceasefire.
A Palestinian official said the latest land grab by Israel would cause only more friction after the Gaza war that left more than 2,000 Palestinians dead and over 10,000 injured.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, called on Israel to cancel the appropriation. "This decision will lead to more instability. This will only inflame the situation after the war in Gaza," presidential spokesman Abu Rdainah said.
A US State Department official called the announcement as "counterproductive to Israel's stated goal of a negotiated two-state solution with the Palestinians".
"We urge the government of Israel to reverse this decision," the official said in Washington........................http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/09/us-urges-israel-reverse-land-appropriation-20149111628544678.html
Russia Urges Israel to Reconsider West Bank Land Appropriation....
ReplyDeleteMOSCOW, September 1 (RIA Novosti) - Moscow has urged Israel to reconsider its decision to expropriate 400 hectares of Palestinian territory in the occupied West Bank, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Monday.
“Moscow is deeply concerned by the information about Israeli plans to annex land in the Palestinian territories. If [the plan] is carried out, such unilateral action would significantly damage prospects of the Palestinian-Israeli peace process, which, as it is known, is based on the drawing of borders for the future Palestinian state according to 1967 lines,” the statement said.
On Sunday, Israel announced that it would recognize some 400 hectares (1,000 acres) in the south of the occupied West Bank as state land.
According to media reports, the decision was made after the killing of three Israeli teenagers in the area in June.
Russia's Foreign Ministry condemned the violence against civilians, but stated that such acts of “retaliation” were not constructive and would minimize the chance of reaching a compromise.
http://en.ria.ru/world/20140901/192527407/Russia-Urges-Israel-to-Reconsider-West-Bank-Land-Appropriation.html