Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, and France assessed Israel’s decision to issue a tender for the construction of homes for Jewish settlers in the E1 zone near Jerusalem as unacceptable and urged the Israeli government to immediately withdraw these plans and halt the expansion of settlements in the West Bank, the countries’ leaders said in a joint statement.

According to it, a settlement in the E1 zone would undermine the prospects for settling the conflict on the basis of “the two-state solution by driving a wedge through the West Bank and harming the territorial contiguity of the Palestinian territories.”

“International law is clear that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal. This is the position of the international community reaffirmed by the UN Security Council,” the document noted, adding that this decision “is even more concerning” given “grave instability in the West Bank with unprecedented levels of violence by settlers against civilians, and serious restrictions on the Palestinian economy.”