Israel's Expansion of West Bank Settlements Raises Concerns for Peaceful Resolution in the Middle East [1]
On June 18th, Israel’s government approved the construction of thousands of new buildings on the West Bank, expanding its settlement. It remained steadfast in its decision to expand despite pressure from the United States to halt. This move raised concerns about achieving a peaceful resolution between Palestine and Israel. Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization Hussein Al-Sheikh stated [3], “We decided to boycott the meeting of the Higher Economic Committee between the two parties, which was scheduled to be held tomorrow.” On Monday, the EU expressed concern [4] over Israel’s plans to “advance planning for more than 4,000 settlement units in the occupied West Bank at the end of June” and reprised that “Settlements are illegal under international law...and threaten the viability of the two-state solution,” calling upon Israel to halt its activity. The U.S. also expressed concern and urged Israel to recommit to ending expansion. As reported by JURIST [5], “ In 2004, the ICJ ruled [6] that the Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory (including East Jerusalem) breach of international law.”