Brazil, others denounce Israel’s West Bank moves

Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Mexico on Friday decried Israel’s decision to legalise settlements in the occupied West Bank following a series of attacks on annexed East Jerusalem.

A statement issued by Brazil’s foreign ministry and signed by the four nations expressed “deep concern” about Israel’s announcement last Sunday that it would retroactively legalize nine existing outposts on the West Bank and greenlight the construction of 10,000 new homes there.

“These unilateral measures constitute serious violations of international law and the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council,” said the statement.

Most Western powers consider the Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 as illegal and a violation of international law.

Some 475,000 Israelis reside in settlements in the West Bank, where 2.9 million Palestinians live.

The return of leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to the presidency on January 1 ended a four-year period of Brazilian alignment with Israel under his far-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro, who had even mooted moving the South American country’s embassy from Tel Aviv to contested Jerusalem.

In their statement, the Latin American governments called on both sides “to refrain from acts and provocations that could promote a new escalation of violence” in the region, and urged negotiations for a “peaceful solution” to the long-standing conflict.

AFP

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