(MENAFN- Gulf Times) The UN human rights office said Friday an Israeli plan to build to build thousands of new homes between an Israeli settlement in the West Bank and near East Jerusalem was illegal under international law, and would put nearby Palestinians at risk of forced eviction, which it described as a war crime.
Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Thursday vowed to press on a long-delayed settlement project, saying the move would "bury" the idea of a Palestinian state.
The UN rights office spokesperson said the plan would break the West Bank into isolated enclaves and that it was "a war crime for an occupying power to transfer its own civilian population into the territory it occupies".
About 700,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.7mn Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Israel annexed East Jerusalem in 1980, a move not recognised by most countries, but has not formally extended sovereignty over the West Bank.
Most world powers say settlement expansion erodes the viability of a two-state solution by breaking up territory the Palestinians seek as part of a future independent state.
The two-state plan envisages a Palestinian state in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, existing side by side with Israel, which captured all three territories in the 1967 Middle East war.
Germany on Friday called on the Israeli government to stop settlement construction in the West Bank.
Germany "firmly rejects the Israeli government's announcements regarding the approval of thousands of new housing units in Israeli settlements in the West Bank," said a foreign ministry spokesperson in a statement.
Plans for the "E1" settlement and the expansion of Maale Adumim would further restrict the mobility of the Palestinian population in the West Bank by splitting it in half and cutting the area off from East Jerusalem, said the spokesperson.
Germany has repeatedly warned the Israeli government to stop settlement construction in the West Bank, which violates international law and UN Security Council resolutions.
Such moves complicate steps towards a negotiated two-state solution and end to Israeli occupation of the West Bank, said the spokesperson.
Turkiye condemns Israel's settlement plan aimed at dividing the West Bank and cutting it off from East Jerusalem, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Thursday, adding the decision was a total violation of international law.
"This step... totally disregards international law and UN resolutions; targets the State of Palestine's territorial integrity, the basis for a two-state solution, and hopes for peace," it said in a statement, reiterating that the establishment of an independent Palestinian state was the only way to achieve lasting peace.
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Thursday that an Israeli settlement plan is not in line with international law, and she called on Israeli authorities not to move ahead with it.
"The decision of Israeli authorities to advance the E1 settlement plan further undermines the two-state solution while being a breach of international law," Kallas said in a statement. "The EU reiterates its call on Israel to halt settlement construction," she added.

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