LONDON, November 2, 2011 (WAFA) – The British government Wednesday condemned an Israeli decision to escalate settlement expansion in the West Bank.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague described in a statement the Israel inner cabinet announcement to accelerate the construction of 2,000 housing units in West Bank settlements in response to the successful Palestinian application for membership of UNESCO as “a serious blow to the Quartet’s efforts to restart peace negotiations.”

He said that the “settlement building program is illegal under international law and is the latest in a series of provocative and unhelpful settlement announcements.  I condemn the decision to accelerate such construction.”

The Quartet, composed of the European Union, the United States, Russia and the United Nations, has called on Palestinians and Israel to refrain from taking “provocative actions” that would obstruct efforts to revive direct negotiations.

“I am also very concerned about Israel’s decision to withhold Palestinian tax revenues,” said Hague. “This is in no-one’s interests, least of all Israel’s, since it has direct implications for the Palestinian Authority’s ability to maintain effective security in the West Bank,” he said.  

“We need to see steps towards peace, not actions that divide and isolate the parties further and undermine the prospects for negotiations. We call on Israel to reverse both these decisions, and on both sides to show the courage and leadership necessary to achieve a return to negotiations,” he said.

M.S.