Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed a joint statement issued by the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada, and Norway rejecting the Israeli occupation government's continuation of the E1 settlement plan and demanding an immediate halt to settlement expansion across the occupied West Bank. Abbas called on the Israeli occupation government to immediately cancel the plan, stressing that severing the northern West Bank from its southern territory and isolating East Jerusalem constitutes a flagrant violation of international law, particularly UN Security Council Resolution 2334, and undermines the establishment of an independent Palestinian state along the 1967 borders, SPA reported. The Palestinian president urged the signatory nations, the European Union, the UN Security Council, and the international community to translate their positions into concrete measures to halt settlement activities and to refuse recognition of any unlawful changes imposed on occupied Palestinian land.
