Germany demands Israeli government to stop its illegal settlement activities

Saturday August 22, 2009 05:40 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Germany is demanding the Israeli occupation government to act and stop its illegal settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, and said that there an urgent need to halt settlement construction to give the peace process a chance to advance.

The German government said that Germany and the United States have clear position regarding settlements as they are one of the main issues that are obstructing the two-state solution.

It added that “it is urgent to achieve progress on the issue in order to make progress in the Middle East peace process. Israeli Prime Minister of the Likud Party, Benjamin Netanyahu, is expected to hold a meeting with the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, next Thursday in Berlin. German is the second country Netanyahu intends to visit during the Europe tour which stats in London.

Merkel stated that Israel must put an end to settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, while a German official stated that continuing settlement activities is like a political suicide.

But so far, Netanyahu and his fundamental coalition partners, are refusing any halt on settlement construction, an issue which is leading to an increasing gap between the stances of Israel and the United States.

Israeli online daily, Haaretz, said that the current U.S. Israel relations are witnessing a rift which is the worst in a decade.

Settlements are illegal, violate the International Law and the Fourth Geneva Conventions.

Fair Use Notice

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.