Qatar, Egypt, Palestinian Authority and others condemn Smotrich’s new West Bank settlement plan

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s approval of 3,000 homes in the E1 area of the West Bank is met with international condemnation.

Qatar, which has mediated between Hamas and Israel in efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, condemns Smotrich’s actions as a “blatant violation of international law.”

Egypt says it “strongly condemns” the step, calling it a “blatant breach and flagrant violation of international law, relevant UN Security Council resolutions, and international conventions.”

Cairo’s Foreign Ministry denounces Smotrich’s “extremist statements,” saying they “serve as a new indication of Israeli deviation and arrogance” and tying them to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s remark earlier this week in favor of the expansionist idea of “Greater Israel.”

Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide says the move shows that Israel “seeks to appropriate land owned by Palestinians in order to prevent a two-state solution.”

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s spokesperson, calls on the United States to pressure Israel to stop settlement building.

Ahmed al Deek, a political adviser to the PA foreign ministry, tells The Associated Press that the approval is a “colonial, expansionist and racist move” that “falls within the framework of the extremist Israeli government’s plans to undermine any possibility of establishing a Palestinian state on the ground, to fragment the West Bank, and to separate its southern part from the center and the north.”

Breaking the Silence, a left-wing Israeli rights group established by former IDF soldiers, criticizes Smotrich, accusing him of encouraging West Bank settlement activity while the world’s attention is on the Gaza war.

“This land grab and settlement expansion will not only further fragment the Palestinian territory, but will further entrench apartheid,” it says.