UK condemns Israeli bill legalizing settlements

By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

LONDON (AA) - The U.K. government condemned on Tuesday an Israeli parliament bill to legalize around 4,000 illegally built homes on Palestinian land.

A British Foreign Office minister for the Middle East, Tobias Ellwood, said in a statement: “As a longstanding friend of Israel, I condemn the passing of the Land Regularization Bill by the Knesset, which damages Israel’s standing with its international partners.”

Ellwood’s comments came less than 24 hours after a meeting in London between Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and British premier Theresa May.

A government statement following the meeting said the U.K.’s position on the settlement issue had not changed.

“The prime minister reiterated the U.K.’s opposition to settlement activity,” it read.

U.K.-Israel relations were shaken recently by the May government's condemnation of Israel's settlement policies and by a scandal caused after an Israeli embassy official was secretly filmed plotting against some British politicians.

-Two-state solution

Ellwood’s statement on Tuesday said the new Israeli bill “paves the way for significant growth in settlements deep in the West Bank, threatening the viability of the two-state solution”.

“We reiterate our support for a two-state solution leading to a secure Israel that is safe from terrorism, and a contiguous, viable and sovereign Palestinian state,” Ellwood added.

Lawmakers in the Israeli parliament voted 60-52 late on Monday to approve the retroactive legalization of outposts which had been built on private Palestinian land and had been considered illegal under both international law -- as all settlement activity is -- and Israeli law.