Capitals, Aug. 21 (SANA) France, Italy, Britain and Germany called on Israeli occupation authorities to halt settlement expansion in the West Bank and immediately withdraw tenders for the E1 settlement project.
In a joint statement carried by Agence France-Presse (AFP), the four countries expressed deep concern over the decision amid severe instability in the West Bank, unprecedented levels of settler violence against civilians and strict restrictions on the Palestinian economy.
The statement said the E1 project would jeopardize prospects for a two-state solution by dividing the West Bank and undermining the territorial unity of the Palestinian territories.
Paris, London, Berlin and Rome described the opening of tenders for the E1 project as unacceptable and warned companies of the consequences of participating, including the risk of complicity in grave violations of international law.
The E1 settlement plan aims to link Ma’ale Adumim with occupied Jerusalem, effectively severing geographical continuity between the northern and southern West Bank and surrounding East Jerusalem with settlements, undermining the possibility of making it the capital of an independent Palestinian state.
I.Z/M.F
