Britain yesterday urged Israel to reverse its decision to build 3,000 settler homes in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, saying the plans would undermine peace efforts.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said he was “extremely concerned” by the move, which came in response to a historic UN vote to recognize Palestine as a non-member observer state.
“The UK strongly advises the Israeli government to reverse this decision,” Hague said in a statement. “The window for a two-state solution is closing, and we need urgent efforts by the parties and by the international community to achieve a return to negotiations, not actions which will make that harder.”
“If implemented, these plans would alter the situation on the ground on a scale that makes the two-state solution, with Jerusalem as a shared capital, increasingly difficult to achieve,” he added.
Britain abstained from Thursday’s UN General Assembly vote, saying that it wanted the Palestinians to unconditionally agree to negotiations on a lasting two-state deal with Israel.
However, the British statement yesterday said that Hague had also advised Israel to “avoid reacting in a way that undermined these goals” for a swift return to peace talks.
The US on Friday also criticized Israel’s decision to build the settler homes, with US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton calling it a setback for peace.
The White House earlier called the move “counterproductive.”
“In light of today’s [Friday’s] announcement, let me reiterate that this administration — like previous administrations — has been very clear with Israel that these activities set back the cause of a negotiated peace,” Clinton said.
She was speaking at a forum in Washington hosted by the Saban Center for Middle East Policy.
“The most lasting solution to the stalemate in Gaza would be a comprehensive peace between Israel and all Palestinians, led by their legitimate representative, the Palestinian Authority,” Clinton said.
“This week’s vote should give all of us pause. All sides need to consider carefully the path ahead,” Clinton added. “We all need to work together to find a path forward in negotiations that can deliver on the goal of a two-state solution. That remains our goal.”
The paramount chief of a volcanic island in Vanuatu yesterday said that he was “very impressed” by a UN court’s declaration that countries must tackle climate change. Vanuatu spearheaded the legal case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, which on Wednesday ruled that countries have a duty to protect against the threat of a warming planet. “I’m very impressed,” George Bumseng, the top chief of the Pacific archipelago’s island of Ambrym, told reporters in the capital, Port Vila. “We have been waiting for this decision for a long time because we have been victims of this climate change for
MASSIVE LOSS: If the next recall votes also fail, it would signal that the administration of President William Lai would continue to face strong resistance within the legislature The results of recall votes yesterday dealt a blow to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) efforts to overturn the opposition-controlled legislature, as all 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers survived the recall bids. Backed by President William Lai’s (賴清德) DPP, civic groups led the recall drive, seeking to remove 31 out of 39 KMT lawmakers from the 113-seat legislature, in which the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) together hold a majority with 62 seats, while the DPP holds 51 seats. The scale of the recall elections was unprecedented, with another seven KMT lawmakers facing similar votes on Aug. 23. For a
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All 24 lawmakers of the main opposition Chinese Nationalists Party (KMT) on Saturday survived historical nationwide recall elections, ensuring that the KMT along with Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers will maintain opposition control of the legislature. Recall votes against all 24 KMT lawmakers as well as Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) and KMT legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) failed to pass, according to Central Election Commission (CEC) figures. In only six of the 24 recall votes did the ballots cast in favor of the recall even meet the threshold of 25 percent of eligible voters needed for the recall to pass,
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