Switzerland rejects new Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory

Switzerland says it rejects the announced construction of thousands of housing units in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian West Bank, settlements east of Jerusalem planned by the Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu. +Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox "These projects violate international law, jeopardise the two-state solution and fuel tensions," the Swiss foreign ministry said in a statement posted on Friday evening on the platform X. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich recently announced plans to build around 3,400 housing units in the area between East Jerusalem and the Maale Adumim settlement. The area is considered one of the most sensitive points in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Its development would effectively divide the West Bank into northern and southern parts and make it considerably more difficult, if not impossible, to create a contiguous territory for a future Palestinian state. In 1967, during the Six-Day War ...