Moscow: Settlement plans in East Jerusalem are an obstacle to peace
"building new settlement units in East Jerusalem contradict international law."
Jerusalem24 – The Russian Foreign Ministry affirmed that Israel’s plans to build new settlement units in East Jerusalem contradict international law and are considered an obstacle to achieving peace in the Middle East.
Yesterday, Tuesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said, “This decision contradicts the international legal basis for the settlement in the Middle East,” according to a statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry regarding Israel’s plans to build more than 1257 settlement units in the settlement of “Givat Hamatos” in East Jerusalem.
The Foreign Ministry added that “the building of a new group of settlement units in the aforementioned area will lead to the separation of East Jerusalem from Bethlehem, which contradicts the interconnectedness of the Palestinian state lands as assumed by United Nations resolutions, which is a basic condition for its viability.”
The Foreign Ministry affirmed Russia’s principled position regarding the illegality of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, adding that such steps by Israel are an obstacle to reaching a just solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and to achieving a comprehensive and stable peace in the Middle East.
The Russian Foreign Ministry called on “to refrain from any steps that undermine the prospects for resuming direct Palestinian-Israeli dialogue on the basic issues of the final status.”
