RAMALLAH, August 21, 2026 (WAFA) — President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed today a joint statement issued by the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada and Norway rejecting the Israeli government’s plans to proceed with the E1 settlement scheme and calling for its immediate reversal and an end to settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.
The President welcomed the seven countries’ reaffirmation that Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory are illegal and undermine the two-state solution, as well as their warning about the E1 plan’s threat to the territorial contiguity of the Palestinian territory and prospects for peace.
President Abbas called on the Israeli government to immediately halt and cancel the E1 plan, stressing that its implementation, including the separation of the northern and southern West Bank and the isolation of occupied East Jerusalem from its Palestinian surroundings, would constitute a flagrant violation of international law and international legitimacy resolutions, foremost among them UN Security Council Resolution 2334.
He said the plan also represents a highly dangerous step in Israel’s policy of settlement expansion, annexation and the imposition of facts on the ground, posing a direct threat to the possibility of establishing an independent and sovereign State of Palestine along the June 4, 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The President called on the countries that signed the statement, the European Union, members of the UN Security Council and the international community as a whole to translate their positions into practical and concrete measures to halt the implementation of the E1 plan, all settlement activities and settler terrorism.
He also urged the international community not to recognize or engage with any measures or changes imposed by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory, stressing that such actions are illegal and require a firm and effective international response that ensures respect for international law and provides protection for the Palestinian people and their legitimate rights.
He stressed that East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip constitute a single geographic and political unit and are the occupied territory of the State of Palestine. He reaffirmed that settlement expansion and annexation cannot create legal rights or alter the legal status of the occupied Palestinian territory.
The President reiterated the State of Palestine’s commitment to a just and comprehensive peace based on the two-state solution and international legitimacy, calling on the international community to assume its responsibilities, take the necessary steps to protect the Palestinian people, their legitimate rights and occupied land, and work toward realizing the independence of the State of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital.
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