Doha: France on Saturday condemned an Israeli project to construct 3,400 settlement units in the occupied West Bank, stressing that the move constitutes an egregious breach of international law.
According to Qatar News Agency, France condemns, in the strongest terms, the decision of the Israeli authorities approving the settlement project E1 (East 1), which allows the building of 3,000-plus residential units in East Jerusalem, a spokesman of the French Foreign Ministry said.
France sees that such a settlement project will carve up the West Bank into two portions and dangerously erode the two-state solution, as the latter is the only way capable of ensuring enduring peace and security for both Israelis and Palestinians.
The European nation emphasized that it still acts alongside its European partners to step up pressure on Israel to put an end to the colonization, including through imposing new sanctions on individuals and entities responsible for this colonization, the French spokesman underlined.
Last Thursday, the finance minister in the far-right Israeli occupation government called for plans to expedite the construction of these units, demanding the annexation of the Palestinian territories in response to the declarations of numerous nations to recognize Palestinian statehood.
According to oppositionists, this settlement project, if implemented, would cut the West Bank into two segments and ultimately prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state characterized by geographic contiguity.