The Israeli government’s decision to legalise five settlements in and to annex  areas of the West Bank as “state lands” was attacked by international leaders, including the UK.

A statement issued yesterday by foreign ministers of the G7 (the UK, US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan), condemned “the announcement by Israeli Finance Minister Smotrich that 5 outposts are to be legalised in the West Bank.”

It continued, “We also reject the decision by the Government of Israel to declare over 1,270 hectares of land in the West Bank as ‘state lands’ – the largest such declaration of state land since the Oslo Accords – and the decision to expand existing settlements in the occupied West Bank by 5,295 new housing units and to establish 3 new settlements.”

The foreign ministers added that, “The Government of Israel’s settlement program is inconsistent with international law, and counterproductive to the cause of peace” and urged the Israeli government to reverse the decision.

They also urged Netanyahu’s government to take measures to ease economic instability in the West Bank, controlled by the Palestinian Authority (PA), in particular to “release all withheld clearance revenues in accordance with the Paris Protocols, remove or relax measures that exacerbate the economic situation in the West Bank, and to take the necessary measures to ensure that correspondent banking services between Israeli and Palestinian banks remain in place with proper controls.”

The G7 announcement joined a similar condemnation by the European Union.

Earlier this week, it was reported that the new Foreign Secretary David Lammy was set to make his first visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories next week. He is believed to be meeting Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz and other government officials.