EU urges Israel to stop West Bank illegal settlement plan which ‘undermines the two-state solution'
Israeli authorities announced plans to build 3 400 homes in a particularly contentious area of the occupied West Bank.
The UN, Germany, Turkey and the UK also urged Israel not to go ahead with the plans.
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Thursday that an Israeli settlement plan is not in line with international law, and she called on Israeli authorities not to move ahead with it.
Israel's far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has announced that work would start on a long-delayed settlement that would divide the West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem.
'The decision of Israeli authorities to advance the E1 settlement plan further undermines the two-state solution while being a breach of international law,' Kallas said in a statement.
'The EU reiterates its call on Israel to halt settlement construction,' she added.
AFP reported that Smotrich backed plans to build 3 400 homes in a particularly contentious area of the occupied West Bank, calling for the territory's annexation in response to several countries' plans to recognise a Palestinian state.
Israel has long had ambitions to build on the sensitive parcel of land east of Jerusalem known as E1, but the plan has been frozen for decades amid international opposition.
Israeli settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal under international law, while critics and the international community have warned construction on the roughly 12km 2 would undermine hopes for a contiguous future Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital.
The site is situated between the ancient city and the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, near routes connecting the north and south of the Palestinian territory. There are also separate, frozen plans to expand Israel's separation barrier to envelop the area.
'Those who want to recognise a Palestinian state today will receive a response from us on the ground... Through concrete actions: Houses, neighbourhoods, roads and Jewish families building their lives,' said Smotrich, Israel's finance minister, who was speaking at a pro-settlement event on the advancement of plans for the E1 parcel.
'Definitively buries the idea of a Palestinian state.'
Far-right Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich announced a plan to effectively split the occupied West Bank in half, approving thousands of new illegal Jewish settler homes between occupied East Jerusalem and a settlement. pic.twitter.com/Hi3RsGdd7P
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) August 14, 2025
'On this important day, I call on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to apply Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, to abandon once and for all the idea of partitioning the country, and to ensure that by September, the hypocritical European leaders will have nothing left to recognise,' the far-right figurehead added, using the Biblical term for the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.
The United Nations chief warned that building Israeli homes in the area would 'put an end to' hopes for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Germany 'strongly' objects to an Israeli plan to build thousands of new homes in the West Bank, calling on the government to 'stop settlement construction' in the Palestinian territory.
Berlin 'strongly rejects the Israeli government's announcements on thousands of new settlements in the Israeli occupied areas of the West Bank', the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Over the last year, Palestinian farmer Saeed al-Amour has attempted to defend his land in the occupied West Bank, as settler attacks have become more frequent and violent.
His olive groves near the Palestinian town of Al-Rakeez have become a target for Israelis from the illegal… pic.twitter.com/niqXog4kdK
— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) August 12, 2025
According to Reuters, Turkey condemns Israel's settlement plan aimed at dividing the West Bank and cutting it off from East Jerusalem, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Thursday, adding the decision was a total violation of international law.
'This step... totally disregards international law and United Nations resolutions; targets the State of Palestine's territorial integrity, the basis for a two-state solution, and hopes for peace,' it said in a statement, reiterating that the establishment of an independent Palestinian state was the only way to achieve lasting peace.
British foreign minister David Lammy said Israeli plans to develop a settlement that would divide the West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem marked a breach of international law and must be stopped immediately.
'The UK strongly opposes the Israeli government's E1 settlement plans, which would divide a future Palestinian state in two and mark a flagrant breach of international law. The plans must be stopped now,' Lammy said in an emailed statement.
Asked about Smotrich's statement that Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump had agreed to the revival of the so-called E1 development, a spokesperson for the US State Department said the US remained focused on ending the war in Gaza and ensuring Hamas will never govern that territory again.
'A stable West Bank keeps Israel secure and is in line with this administration's goal to achieve peace in the region,' the spokesperson said, while referring to the Israeli government for further information.
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