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3. Israel Calls Countries Condemning New West Bank Settlements 'Morally Wrong'

Israel reacted furiously on Thursday to a condemnation by 14 countries, including France and Britain, of its approval of new settlements in the occupied West Bank, calling the criticism discriminatory against Jews.

"Foreign governments will not restrict the right of Jews to live in the Land of Israel, and any such call is morally wrong and discriminatory against Jews," Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said.

"The cabinet decision to establish 11 new settlements and to formalize eight additional settlements is intended, among other things, to help address the security threats Israel is facing."

On Sunday, Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced that authorities had greenlit the settlements, saying the move was aimed at preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state.

"On the ground, we are blocking the establishment of a Palestinian terror state," said Smotrich, a vocal proponent of settlement expansion and a settler himself.

Fourteen countries, including Britain, France, Germany, Spain, and Canada, then issued a statement urging Israel to reverse its decision, "as well as the expansion of settlements."

Such unilateral actions, they said, "violate international law" and risk undermining a fragile ceasefire in Gaza in force since October 10.

They also reaffirmed their "unwavering commitment to a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace based on the two-state solution... where two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, live side-by-side in peace and security."

Since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023 with Hamas's attack on Israel, calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state have multiplied, with several countries moving to formally recognize such a state.

Among those countries were some of those that condemned the settlement expansion drive.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.

Excluding East Jerusalem, which was occupied and annexed by Israel in 1967, more than 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank, along with about three million Palestinian residents.

Earlier this month, the United Nations said the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, all of which are illegal under international law, had reached its highest level since at least 2017.

The latest approvals bring to 69 the total number of settlements approved over the past three years by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, one of the most right-wing in Israel's history.

The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority has also condemned the latest approvals, accusing Israel of tightening its control over Palestinian land.

It said the approvals were a continuation of "apartheid, settlement, and annexation policies that undermine the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people."

AFP