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Israeli settlement in the West Bank (icon image)
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Oded Balilty/ dpa
The UN Security Council has condemned the Israeli government's planned retrospective approval of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.
"The Security Council reiterates that the ongoing Israeli settlement activities dangerously jeopardize the viability of the two-state solution based on the 1967 lines," read a unanimously adopted statement by the 15 members of the United Nations' most influential body: "The Security Council expresses its deep expressing concern and dismay at Israel's February 12 announcement."
This is the first time in six years that the United States, Israel's most important protecting power, has allowed the UN Security Council to issue a statement critical of Israel.
However, the declaration does not have the binding force of a resolution.
The US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, criticized the announced retrospective approval of nine illegally built outposts for Jewish settlers in the West Bank.
This exacerbated tensions and hurt trust.
The US had signaled its approval of the UN Security Council statement after the United Arab Emirates withdrew a more stringent draft resolution.
In this, Israel was asked to immediately stop all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Subsequent legalization planned
In the West Bank, which has been occupied since 1967 and has 2.8 million Palestinian inhabitants, 475,000 Israelis live in settlements that the UN has classified as illegal under international law.
In addition to official settlements, there are also so-called wild settlements that were built without permission from the Israeli government.
The right-wing religious government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanted to subsequently legalize nine such settlements.
The statement said the Council "strongly opposes all unilateral measures that impede peace, including Israeli construction and expansion of settlements, confiscation of Palestinian land and 'legalization' of settlement outposts, demolition of Palestinian homes and the expulsion of Palestinian civilians.
Other European and Arab states had previously sharply criticized the legalization of the settlements.
In the face of widespread international protest, the government in Jerusalem gave in shortly before the UN Security Council vote.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office has announced that no permission will be granted for further settlements in the coming months.
Religious fundamentalists and ultra-nationalists are represented in Netanyahu's cabinet, which has been in office since December. They are calling for Israeli territory to be expanded into the West Bank.
The United States and other Western countries see this as a threat to the two-state solution, which they believe could end the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
The two-state solution referred to in the UN Security Council statement envisages an independent Palestinian state coexisting peacefully with Israel.
ptz/Reuters/AFP