Today, Thursday, the Japanese government condemned the Israeli occupation authorities´ announcement of building 1936 settlement units in the occupied West Bank.
"Japan regrets the continuation of settlement activities by the Israeli government, despite repeated calls by the international community to freeze such activities," Masato Otaka, a Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman, said in a statement. He added that "settlement activities violate international law," noting that "these Israeli decisions would undermine the two-state solution." And the Israeli occupation authorities agreed last Sunday to build 1936 new settlement units in the Palestinian territories. Israeli settlement, which devours large areas of West Bank land, including Jerusalem, is the main obstacle to the resumption of peace negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis, which have been stalled since April 2014. Israeli estimates indicate that about 640,000 settlers live in 196 settlements, and 200 outposts in the West Bank, including the city of Jerusalem (which includes about 220,000 settlers). The Israeli government rejects repeated requests from the Palestinians and the international community to stop settlement-building in violation of international law in the occupied territories. The international community considers the overwhelming majority of settlements illegal, and is based on the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the occupying power from transferring Israelis to the occupied territories.
