PARIS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th August, 2018) France denounced on Friday Israel's recent decision to build new Jewish-only settlement units in the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the French Foreign Ministry said.
On Wednesday, Tel Aviv greenlighted the construction of 384 new Jewish-only housing units in the occupied areas.
"France condemns the new decisions of the Israeli authorities authorizing the constriction of several thousands houses on the West Bank and East Jerusalem," the ministry said in a statement, adding that the demolition of Palestinian houses and the construction of the Jewish ones were part of the same strategy that threatened the viability of a future Palestinian state.
The ministry urged Tel Aviv to reconsider its decision and abandon "the strategy of colonization."
Israel's housing activity in the occupied territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem is one of the main stumbling blocks of the Israeli-Palestinian settlement. There are about 600,000 Israelis living in the Jewish-only housing units in the contested areas.
