The UK has condemned Israel’s decision to establish 22 new settlements in the occupied West Bank as a “deliberate obstacle to Palestinian statehood”.
Foreign Office minister Hamish Falconer said the UK “condemns” the decision, which Israel's defence minister Israel Katz described as “a strategic move that prevents the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger Israel”.
Labour last year in its general election manifesto committed to “recognising a Palestinian state as a contribution to a renewed peace process which results in a two-state solution”.
In Government, ministers have repeatedly committed to recognising a Palestinian state, but Mr Falconer has previously said the Government “will make a judgment about when the best moment is to try and make the fullest possible contribution” to a peace process.
Mr Falconer wrote on X: “The Israeli government's approval of 22 new settlements in the occupied West Bank is a deliberate obstacle to Palestinian statehood.
“The UK condemns these actions.
“Settlements are illegal under international law, further imperil the two-state solution, and do not protect Israel.”
Mr Katz said the decision to back 22 new settlements “strengthens our hold on Judea and Samaria” and “anchors our historical right in the Land of Israel, and constitutes a crushing response to Palestinian terrorism”.
The land will include outposts already built without the permission of the Israeli government.
The West Bank has been occupied by Israel since the 1967 Six-Day War despite Palestinian Arabs asserting rights there.
Israel has already built nearly 150 settlements across the territory, which range from outposts to communities that resemble towns and suburbs with apartment blocks, shopping centres and public parks.
The issue of settlements is one of the most contentious areas of dispute between Israelis and the Palestinians.
More than 700,000 settlers live in the occupied West Bank, which is home to around 3 million Palestinians.
The vast majority of the international community, including the UK, considers the settlements illegal under the Geneva Convention.
The International Court of Justice ruled last year that Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territories is unlawful and called on it to end.
However, Israel and the United States under President Donald Trump’s administration dispute this interpretation.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has seen the building of settlements accelerated following the October 7 massacre by Hamas, which killed 1,200 people with around 250 others taken hostage.
We have not taken a foreign land, but the heritage of our ancestors
Human rights organisations argued the move “will dramatically reshape the West Bank and further entrench the occupation”.
Peace Now, an Israeli advocacy group that supports a two-state solution, said: “The Israeli government no longer pretends otherwise: the annexation of the occupied territories and expansion of settlements is its central goal.”
The UK’s criticism of Israel over the new settlements in the West Bank comes days after Britain and Israel clashed over the ongoing conflict Gaza.
Mr Netanyahu accused Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer of being “on the wrong side of humanity” after the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington DC.
The Israeli premier claimed the leaders had “emboldened Hamas” a day after young diplomat couple Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim were killed in the United States capital.
He condemned a joint statement between the Labour leader, French President Emmanuel Macron and Canada’s PM Mark Carney, which took aim at Israel’s “egregious” actions in Gaza.
The UK Government hit back at the claims.
“I don’t agree with those comments,” Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard told LBC Radio when asked about the “wrong side of humanity” accusation.
“We condemn in the fullest possible terms the murder of the Israeli diplomats in the United States.
