AL-QUDS (Dispatches) – The European Union called on Thursday for the Zionist regime to halt its plans to expand settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, saying that any new changes to the pre-1967 borders that are not agreed upon by the parties will be rejected by the bloc.
“Settlements are illegal under international law and constitute a major obstacle to the achievement of the (so-called) two-state solution and a just, lasting and comprehensive peace between the parties,” a statement from the office of EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.
The statement, jointly issued by the foreign ministries of Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain and Sweden expressed their strong opposition to the construction of the new settler units. It urged the Zionist regime to revoke the recent approval of new illegal settlement units in the occupied West Bank, which are totally incompatible with ongoing efforts to reduce tensions, and instead focus on furthering meaningful re-engagement between the conflicting parties.
‘Americans Don’t Care’

U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Washington was concerned about the “plan to advance thousands of settlement units tomorrow, Wednesday, many of them deep in the West Bank.”
However, a senior Zionist regime official says the Biden administration doesn’t actually care about Tel Aviv’s land expropriation policies and settlement expansion activities, and won’t prevent advancement of plans for fresh settlement expansion.
“Contrary to the impression they’re trying to make, the Americans don’t care that much about the ministry of construction and housing’s decision, and they have no problem tolerating it,” Israeli news website Zman Yisrael quoted the unnamed official close to Zionist prime minister Naftali Bennett as saying on Friday.
His remarks came after the U.S. objection to the regime’s approval of about 3,000 new illegal settler homes in the occupied West Bank.
“This construction is not part of the conversation we are having with the Americans. We noticed that. The Americans understand the political situation here very well, and they do not want to see us go down over this [issue]. They also know what the alternative is,” the official added.
On Sunday, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh called the plans “a blatant aggression on our lands.”
The occupying regime’s higher planning council moved forward the construction of 3,144 settlement units in the West Bank on Wednesday.
There were 13 illegal Zionist settlements in occupied East Al-Quds and 253 others in the West Bank. More than 660,000 settlers live in these settlements. Under international law, the West Bank, including East Al-Quds, is regarded as “occupied territory,” making all settlements there illegal.
Hamas said Thursday the settlement expansion is a systematic policy pursued by all successive Zionist cabinets, describing the plan as “a real war crime”, the Palestinian Information Center reported.
“The Zionist decision to increase settlement construction in the West Bank has exposed anew the occupation’s disregard for our people’s right to their land … and for all international calls demanding it to halt its settlement war,” said Hamas spokesman Hazem Qasem.