UK condemns Israeli settlement plans

The British Foreign Office on Wednesday condemned Israeli settlement plans announced last week and called on the Israeli government to drop them.

Tobias Ellwood, the UK's minister for the Middle East, said in a statement: "The UK is deeply concerned by reports that planning for 1,065 settlement units is being advanced, including possible retrospective approval of buildings built without permits or on private Palestinian land."

A settlement watchdog said last week that the Israeli Civil Administration had approved 1,065 housing units in eight different settlements across the eastern side of the occupied al-Quds ('Jerusalem') and the West Bank.

The approval extended to 228 already existing housing units built in settlements, as well as 541 new housing units yet to be constructed and an infrastructure plan connecting 296 housing units.

Ellwood said: "We call on the Israeli government to discard these plans and refrain from such steps. Every settlement announcement has a negative impact on prospects for peace and a negotiated solution."

He added: "The UK's position on Israeli settlements is clear: they are illegal under international law and undermine the prospects for a two-state solution."