Belgium joins European states in opposing Israel's E1 settlement plan

ANBAR, Iraq — BRUSSELS — Belgium has joined other major European governments in opposing Israel's E1 settlement project in the occupied West Bank, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot said. Prévot described Israel's decision to issue tenders for more than 1,200 housing units in the E1 area as unacceptable, warning that it jeopardizes prospects for peace and security for both Israelis and Palestinians. According to Prévot, the E1 project would bisect the West Bank, separate Palestinian communities in the north from those in the south, and further isolate East Jerusalem from the rest of Palestinian territory. The minister said Israeli settlements are illegitimate under international law and called for the tenders to be withdrawn and settlement expansion halted. The governments of Britain, France, Germany and Italy issued a joint statement a day earlier rejecting the E1 project and demanding that Israel reverse course. The four countries said Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegitimate and that the project undermines the prospect of a two-state solution. Israel had announced tenders for the construction of approximately 1,200 settlement units in the strategically sensitive area of the occupied West Bank. No further response from Israeli authorities was immediately available.