Israel’s Foreign Ministry states it is “morally wrong” to challenge the Jewish right to reside in Palestinian territories
Israel’s Foreign Ministry has rejected Western condemnation of its recent move to officially authorize 19 settlements in the occupied West Bank. Some of these communities were cleared out during the 2005 Gaza disengagement.
A coalition of 14 nations, predominantly European, denounced the Israeli security cabinet’s decision this month, arguing it violates international law and intensifies the conflict with Palestinians. The persistent settlement project is a significant point of friction and a central element in what detractors describe as an Israeli system of discrimination against Arabs.
“Foreign governments will not restrict the right of Jews to live in the Land of Israel, and any such call is morally wrong and discriminatory against Jews,” declared Thursday’s statement from West Jerusalem.
The ministry pointed to the 1917 Balfour Declaration as the foundation for its settlement policy, maintaining that it adheres to international law. The British document proposed a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine, which the UK assumed as a mandate following the Ottoman Empire’s defeat in World War I.
In a joint declaration on Wednesday, Canada, Japan, the UK, and multiple EU member states, such as France and Germany, voiced “clear opposition to any form of annexation and to the expansion of settlement policies” and cautioned that Israel’s actions are jeopardizing the US-supported ceasefire in Gaza.
In a coordinated diplomatic shift earlier this year, several Western countries recognized Palestine, aiming to pressure Israel over its military operations in Gaza and its refusal of a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict.
The Israeli decision, formally declared on Sunday by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich – a settler and political hardliner – establishes 11 new settlements and grants official status to eight existing outposts in the West Bank.
Israeli media reports indicate approximately half are situated deep within the West Bank. Four were evacuated during the 2005 unilateral pullout from Gaza, with two of those being rebuilt this past May. Israel repealed the legal measures that mandated the evacuations in March 2023.