Norway condemns Israel's settlement expansion plans in West Bank
Norway has condemned Israel's approval of new settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank and the issuance of tenders for thousands of settler units in the area.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide on Thursday strongly condemned the settlement expansion initiated by far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich.
The regime announced these steps last week along with a series of measures against the Palestinian Authority, led by President Mahmoud Abbas.
Barth Eide condemned both plans and the measures as “totally unacceptable.”
Additionally, Barth Eide expressed Oslo’s dismay at Tel Aviv’s decision to advance the approval of 6,016 settler units in West Bank, demanding that Israel reverses it.
Barth Eide also reaffirmed Norway’s recognition of Palestine as a state in May.
Late last week, the United Nations and the European Union also condemned Israel’s new settlement expansion planss, namely Evyatar, Givat Assaf, Sde Efraim, Heletz, and Adorayim.
More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East al-Quds.
The international community views the settlements – hundreds of which have been built across the West Bank since the occupation of the territory in 1967 – as illegal under international law and the Geneva Conventions due to their construction on the occupied territories.
Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent state with East al-Quds as its capital.
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