Canada and 21 other countries issued a joint statement on Thursday calling for the immediate halt of a recently approved Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank.
On Wednesday, the Israeli government gave its final approval of a 3,500 apartment expansion plan in a tract of land east of Jerusalem known as E1. The development has been under consideration for more than two decades, but was frozen due to U.S. pressure during previous administrations.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand and her counterparts called on the Israeli government to “urgently retract” the expansion plan and “stop settlement construction.”
“The decision by the Israeli Higher Planning Committee to approve plans for settlement construction in the E1 area, east of Jerusalem, is unacceptable and a violation of international law. We condemn this decision and call for its immediate reversal in the strongest terms,” the statement said.
More than 700,000 Israelis now live in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, territories captured by Israel in 1967 and sought by the Palestinians for a future state. The settlements are illegal under international law, though Israel has disputed the legality, arguing that the West Bank is disputed territory whose fate should be determined through negotiations.
If the E1 expansion process moves quickly, infrastructure work could begin in the next few months and construction of homes could start in around a year.
“The government of Israel still has an opportunity to stop the E1 plan going any further. We encourage them to urgently retract this plan,” the ministers’ joint statement said.
The signatories include the foreign ministers of Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the U.K. The foreign affairs representative of the European Commission also signed the statement.
Israel has given final approval to expand one of the largest Jewish settlements in the Occupied West Bank. The settlement’s mayor wants it to be part of Jerusalem whereas nearby Palestinians are worried about being cut off from East Jerusalem.
The location of E1 is significant because it is one of the last geographical links between Ramallah, in the northern West Bank, and Bethlehem in the southern West Bank. The two cities are 22 kilometres apart, but Palestinians travelling between them must take a wide detour and pass through multiple Israeli checkpoints, adding hours to the journey.
Both critics and proponents of the E1 expansion plan have said it will effectively divide the West Bank in two, destroying plans for a future Palestinian state.
Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said during a news conference at the site last week that the plan “finally buries the idea of a Palestinian state” — something he repeated Wednesday.
“The Palestinian state is being erased from the table not with slogans but with actions,” Smotrich said. “Every settlement, every neighbourhood, every housing unit is another nail in the coffin of this dangerous idea.”
Canada is one of a number of countries planning to recognize a Palestinian state at next month’s United Nations General Assembly meeting.
Canada’s recognition is based on a commitment from the Palestinian Authority — which operates in the West Bank — to hold elections next year.
The statement issued by Anand and her counterparts specifically condemned Smotrich for his comments regarding the future of a Palestinian state.
“This brings no benefits to the Israeli people. Instead, it risks undermining security and fuels further violence and instability, taking us further away from peace,” the statement said.
In June, Canada and five Western allies issued sanctions against Smotrich — and Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir — accusing the two ministers of pushing “extremist rhetoric” by calling for the displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank and the expansion of Israeli settlements in the territory.
The sanctions — which drew heated responses from both Israeli and U.S. officials — also targeted some Israeli settlers involved in violent acts in the West Bank.
Israel’s plans to expand settlements are part of an increasingly difficult reality for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank as the world’s attention focuses on the war in Gaza. There have been marked increases in attacks by settlers on Palestinians, evictions from Palestinian towns and checkpoints that choke freedom of movement, as well as several Palestinian attacks on Israelis.
Wadi Alkam shows CBC’s Susan Ormiston the aftermath of an attack on his home in Turmus Aya in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where violence has reached a 20-year high, according to UN monitoring.
Peace Now, an organization that tracks settlement expansion in the West Bank, called the E1 project “deadly for the future of Israel and for any chance of achieving a peaceful two-state solution” which is “guaranteeing many more years of bloodshed.”
Earlier this summer, diplomats from several Western governments that had condemned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government came under fire from Israeli soldiers while visiting the West Bank city of Jenin. The IDF claimed to have fired warning shots in the air after diplomats strayed from an agreed-upon route, although video footage from the scene showed soldiers aiming their rifles in a horizontal direction.
Four Canadian Embassy staff were among those forced to seek cover. Prime Minister Mark Carney described the shooting as “totally unacceptable.”
Canada absent from call to protect Gaza journalists
Meanwhile, Canada wasn’t included in a multi-country statement that demands Israel stop banning foreign journalists from entering Gaza and that local journalists be protected in the Palestinian territories.
Canada co-founded the Media Freedom Coalition in 2020 and has signed dozens of statements on issues in Hong Kong, Sudan and previously the West Bank.
But Ottawa is not among the 27 countries signing a call for Israel to allow “independent foreign media access” into Gaza.
The only other time Canada did not sign a multi-country statement from the coalition was during the 2021 election campaign. Global Affairs Canada did not have an immediate response when asked why it’s not part of Thursday’s letter from the coalition.
The statement comes after Canada and others condemned Israel for deliberately killing Al Jazeera journalist Anas Al-Sharif. Israel claimed the journalist had led a Hamas cell.
