Britain summons Israeli ambassador over new settlements

By AFP - Jan 16,2014 - Last updated at Jan 16,2014

LONDON — Britain summoned the Israeli ambassador to London to the Foreign Office on Thursday over plans to build more than 1,800 new settler housing units, a spokesman said.

Israel unveiled the proposals on Friday in a move the Palestinians said was aimed at forcing the United States to abandon its push towards Middle East peace.

“The Israeli ambassador was summoned to the Foreign Office on January 16 over the Israeli government’s recent decision to announce new settlement tenders in East Jerusalem and the West Bank,” a Foreign Office spokesman told AFP.

Foreign Office Permanent UnderSecretary Simon Fraser “made clear that settlement announcements had a detrimental impact on an atmosphere conducive to productive talks. The UK urged Israel to refrain from further such announcements”.

Israel said it planned to build 1,076 units in annexed East Jerusalem and 801 in the occupied West Bank, a week after US Secretary of State John Kerry visited the region.

Fraser told the Israeli envoy that the current Middle East peace talks were a “unique opportunity to end the conflict once and for all”.

Rate

Palestinians ‘will not make concessions on Jerusalem’

Jan 11,2014

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has told a cheering audience in a fiery speech that “the Palestinian people won’t kneel” and won’t drop demands to establish a capital in East Jerusalem, The Associated Press reported.

Israel gives final green light to 1,800 West Bank settler units

Oct 27,2021

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israel advanced plans for building more than 3,000 settler units in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, a military spo

Israeli huge new settlement push raises Palestinians’ ire

Jun 05,2014

Israel unveiled plans for 3,200 settler housing units Thursday in retaliation for the formation of a Palestinian unity government backed by Hamas and the international community, raising the Palestinians’ ire.