UK concerned over Israeli bill to legalise settlement outposts in the West Bank

The British government has expressed concern over the Israeli government’s attempts to legitimise illegal outposts across the occupied West Bank saying the move would “undermine the two-state solution”.

“We are deeply concerned by the land regulation bill in the Israeli Knesset to ‘legalise’ settlement outposts across the West Bank,” Tobias Ellwood, the British Middle East and North Africa Minister, said in a statement posted on the ministry’s website.

“Such outposts are currently illegal under both Israeli domestic law and international humanitarian law,” he added.

According to the statement, “should this proposal go ahead, it would seriously undermine prospects for a two-state solution.” Elwood has called on the Israeli government to reconsider the land regulation bill at the earliest opportunity.

The Israeli ministerial committee has ratified the “Legalisation Bill” which would retroactively legalise Jewish communities built on privately-owned Palestinian lands in the West Bank.

On Monday, the United States condemned the bill saying: “We are deeply concerned about the advancement of legislation that would allow for the legalisation of illegal Israeli outposts located on private Palestinian land,” State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said.