Countries including Britain, Canada, and Germany, and others on Wednesday condemned the Israeli security cabinet's approval of 19 new settlements in the West Bank, saying they violated international law and risked fuelling instability.
"We call on Israel to reverse this decision, as well as the expansion of settlements," said a joint statement released by Britain, which also included Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, and Spain.
"We recall that such unilateral actions, as part of a wider intensification of the settlement policies in the West Bank, not only violate international law but also risk fuelling instability," the statement added.
Gideon Sa'ar responds
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar responded on Wednesday to the condemnation by a number of Western countries about the West Bank settlements program, saying that "foreign governments will not restrict the right of Jews to live in the land of Israel, and any such call is morally wrong and discriminatory against Jews."
"Israel strongly rejects the statement issued by foreign countries regarding the cabinet decision on settlements in Judea and Samaria," Sa'ar said in a statement.
Settlements 'aimed to help address security threats' faced by Israel.
Sa'ar assured that the decision to establish 11 new settlements and formalize another eight, which had been considered illegal, aims to address several security threats. He also said that all of the settlements are in Area C and "situated on state land."
Sa'ar also cited international law, the 1917 Balfour Declaration, and the San Remo Conference of 1920, which established "the right of the Jewish people to establish its national home extends over the entire territory of 'Mandatory Palestine.' These rights were preserved in Article 80 of the Charter of the United Nations."
"In the aforementioned statement, the blatant silence of foreign states regarding the Palestinian Authority’s illegal construction in Area C is extremely striking," he concluded.
Tobias Holcman contributed to this report.