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EU attacks new Israeli settlement law

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AFP Brussels
Last Updated : Feb 08 2017 | 1:02 AM IST
The European Union today said it "condemns" a new Israeli law legalising dozens of Jewish settler outposts in the occupied West Bank and urged the country not to implement it.
"The European Union condemns the recent adoption of the 'Regularisation Law'", foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said, arguing it "crosses a new and dangerous threshold by legalising under Israeli law the seizure of Palestinian property rights".
The 28-nation EU "urges the Israeli leadership to refrain from implementing the law and to avoid measures that further raise tensions and endanger the prospects for a peaceful solution to the conflict", she said in a statement.
The Israeli law passed yesterday allows for the appropriation of private Palestinian land for Jewish settler outposts, meaning legalisation for dozens of wildcat outposts and thousands of settler homes.
Settlements in both the West Bank and east Jerusalem are viewed as illegal under international law and major stumbling blocks to peace as they are built on land the Palestinians want for their own state.
International criticism to the new law has mounted swiftly, with UN chief Antonio Guterres saying it is "contravention of international law", but the United States has been notably silent.

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First Published: Feb 08 2017 | 1:02 AM IST

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