Belgium asks Israel to stop 'unacceptable' West Bank settlement plan

Belgium's Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot has strongly condemned Israel's decision to tender bids for over 1,200 housing units in the E1 settlement area of the occupied West Bank. Prévot described the plan as "unacceptable" and a threat to peace and security for both Israelis and Palestinians.

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The decision of the Israeli government to call for tenders for more than 1,200 homes in the E1 area is unacceptable. It jeopardizes the prospects for peace and security that we all desire for Israelis and Palestinians.

In a social media message, the minister emphasized that the E1 project, which aims to divide the northern and southern West Bank and isolate East Jerusalem, "gravely undermines the viability of the two-state solution." He reiterated that Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory are illegal under international law.

Prévot urged the Israeli government to withdraw the tenders, halt the E1 project, and cease all settlement expansion. The new housing units constitute nearly half of the 3,401 approved for the project a year ago. This tender proceeds despite a judicial appeal filed in June, to which the state must respond in September.

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Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory are illegal under international law.

More than 20 countries, including allies of Israel like France, Canada, Italy, and Australia, had previously denounced the project as an "unacceptable violation of international law that could fuel violence." Belgium maintains its commitment to fighting Hamas but insists that irreversible actions on the ground that further distance a just and lasting peace cannot be accepted.

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We continue to fight against the terrorist group Hamas. Because we cannot accept the creation of any irreversible facts on the ground that move a just and lasting peace even further away. Not for Palestinians, nor for Israelis.