UK Confirms Unchanged Stance On Israeli West Bank Settlements - Foreign Office

UK Confirms Unchanged Stance on Israeli West Bank Settlements - Foreign Office

The United Kingdom's Foreign and Commonwealth Office on Thursday reiterated its objection to Israel's continued building of settlements in West Bank, condemning them as illegal and detrimental to the peace process in the region

LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd November, 2019) The United Kingdom's Foreign and Commonwealth Office on Thursday reiterated its objection to Israel's continued building of settlements in West Bank, condemning them as illegal and detrimental to the peace process in the region.

On Monday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that Washington no longer considered the construction of civilian settlements by Israel in the West Bank "inconsistent with international law," a reversal of the position held by the previous administration under President Barack Obama.

"The position of the UK on settlements is clear. They are illegal under international law, present an obstacle to peace, and threaten the viability of a two-state solution. We urge Israel to halt its counterproductive settlement expansion," a spokesperson for the Foreign Office said in a statement.

Israel has been in control of the Palestinian-majority West Bank since the Six-Day War in 1967. Since then, more than 120 Israeli civilian settlements were built in the disputed area.

Among the international documents that codify the unacceptability of such practice is Article 49 of the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention on the protection of civilian persons during times of war, which reads that an "Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies."

UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which was adopted unanimously in 2016, is another such document. It states that Israel's building of settlements on Palestinian territories constitutes a violation of international law.