UK, Canada and Australia urge Israel to reverse approvals for settlement expansion in West Bank

The UK, Canada and Australia have called on Israel to reverse a decision green-lighting increased settlement expansions in the West Bank in a joint statement on Friday.

The three countries said they were "gravely concerned" over Tel Aviv’s approval on Monday of plans for some 5,700 homes for Israeli settlers in the occupied Palestinian territory, the Palestinian WAFA news agency reported.

The homes are part of more than 13,000 settlement properties that have been advanced through a pair of major planning stages so far in 2023.

The countries’ foreign ministers went on to slam the decision in the statement, expressing that Israel’s continued settlement expansion policies pose an "obstacle for peace". They also said the move "negatively impacts efforts to achieve a negotiated two-state solution."

"We are also concerned by the changes to the settlement approval process instituted by the Government of Israel on June 18, which facilitate swifter approval of construction in settlements," James Cleverly, Hon Penny Wong, and Mélanie Joly, the foreign minister of the UK, Australia, and Canada, added.

Additionally, the US - Israel’s long-standing ally - has also attempted to pressure Israel to halt settlements expansions.

Since entering office in January, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right coalition has approved the promotion of more than 7,000 new settlement units, while his cabinet includes prominent settler proponents, notably Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has been given key powers by Netanyahu over this area. Smotrich himself is a settler.

Settlements on occupied Palestinian land are deemed illegal under international law. Israel has built countless settlements ever since its occupation of the West Bank and east Jerusalem began in 1967, following the Arab-Israeli war in the same year.

Palestinians have also reiterated that illegal settlements and their expansion stifle hopes for an independent state of their own.

The ministers also expressed concern over "the continued violence and loss of life in the West Bank and Israel", following the surge in deadly raids in the occupied Palestinian territory, as well as a number of incidents in Israel, reported The Times of Israel site.

Israeli forces have so far killed more than 180 Palestinians in 2023 in such incursions, which have intensified since Netanyahu became Prime Minister and leader of Israel’s most far-right government in history, following the elections in late 2022.

The foreign ministers added that "Australia, Canada and the UK stand firmly with the Israeli and Palestinian people in their right to live in peace and security, with dignity, without fear and with their human rights fully respected."