Date : 10/06/2013
PARIS, June 10 (KUNA) -- The French government said it was "very concerned"
by the evolution of illegal Israeli settlement building in the occupied West
Bank, where new constructions have tripled in the first quarter of 2103 when
compared with the previous three-month period.
Israeli NGO Peace Now has raised the alarm about the trend in settlements
which are illegal and considered a huge provocation by the Palestinians.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Philippe Lalliot said in answer to KUNA
questions that these new constructions were part of a series of building
permits approved in 2012 and which France "condemned" at that time they were
approved.
"Our position on settlement-building is known: we indeed consider this
illegal under international law, that it drains the confidence needed for the
resumption of dialogue and it constitutes an obstacle to a just peace based on
the two-State solution," the spokesman responded.
He also recalled that the European Union Foreign Ministers had expressed
determination twice last year to implement legislation governing products
being produced in the illegal settlements and exported under Israeli label to
Europe.
The EU has vowed to tighten up on this fraudulent practice but Foreign
Ministers have not gone any further in the divided EU on the question of
tougher sanctions against Israel for its violation of international law. (end)
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