An-Najah News - Europe's main powers condemned Israel's decision to approve thousands of housing units in the illegal settlements of the occupied Palestinian territories.

In a joint statement by the foreign ministers of Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain called this decision a “counterproductive” move that undermines regional peace efforts.

It added “The expansion of settlements violates international law and further imperils the viability of a two-state solution to bring about a just and lasting peace to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,”.

“As we have emphasized directly with the government of Israel, this step furthermore undermines efforts to rebuild trust between the parties with a view to resuming dialogue,” they said, urging an immediate halt in settlement construction.

"We therefore call for an immediate halt to settlement construction, as well as to evictions and to demolitions of Palestinian structures in East-Jerusalem and the West Bank.