9 December 2016

Al Jazeera: Germany: Israeli bill violates international law

Germany has urged Israel in unusually strong language to scrap legislation that would legalise Israeli settlement homes built on private Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank, saying it would break international law.

A German foreign ministry spokesman said on Wednesday the government was "extremely concerned" about the development.

"Such a bill violates international law," he said, adding Israel would undermine its commitment to finding a "two-state solution" - a Palestinian state in territory Israel captured in a 1967 war - if the bill were passed. [...]

Germany tends to be more reserved than other European nations in its criticism of Israel because of the legacy of the Nazi Holocaust.

But it has objected in the past few years to Israeli settlement expansion on land Palestinians want for a state.

Israeli officials are also concerned the bill could provide grounds for prosecution by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

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