EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said she has been following the situation in East Jerusalem with concern and expressed her profound disappointed by Thursday's approval of more than 900 Jewish housing units in the settlement of Har Homa in East Jerusalem.
"The EU has repeatedly urged the government of Israel to immediately end all settlement activities in the West Bank, including in East Jerusalem. All settlement activities are illegal under international law," she stressed in a statement Friday night.
"This further expansion of settlements is particularly regrettable at a time when the EU, together with its international partners and the parties, is striving to create a credible perspective to re-launch negotiations, leading to a just and durable solution to the conflict," she said.
"Continued settlement activity undermines trust between the parties and efforts to resume negotiations. This is especially true with regard to Jerusalem," noted Ashton.
She said that there can be no sustainable peace in the Middle East without a two-state solution with the State of Israel and a viable and contiguous Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security.
"Settlement activity damages this prospect," she concluded.
Ashton condemns new Jewish settlements
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