Saudi Arabia condemns Israel’s approval of new settlements in West Bank

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday condemned Israel’s decision to approve the establishment of 800 new settlement units in the West Bank, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

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“We strongly condemn Israel’s decision to approve the establishment of 800 new settlement units in the West Bank, and we reiterate our categorical rejection of this step as a new violation of international legitimacy decisions, a threat to peace, and an undermining of efforts for the two-state solution,” the Kingdom’s Foreign Ministry said in a Twitter post.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered on Monday that plans be advanced to construct some 800 homes for Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank, an official statement said.

It said the 800 homes would be built in the settlements of Beit El, Tal Menashe, Rehelim, Shavei Shomron, Barkan, Karnei Shomron and Givat Zeev, but gave no starting date for construction.

In October 2020, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said the Kingdom has always envisioned that normalization with Israel would happen, but the current focus should be on bringing Palestinians and Israelis back to the negotiating table.

“We have always envisioned that normalization [with Israel] would happen, but we also need to have a Palestinian state and a Palestinian-Israeli peace plan,” the Saudi FM said.

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