OSLO, July 31, 2015 (WAFA) - Norway joined in the unanimous international criticism of Israel’s decision to construct 800 new housing units in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Børge Brende said in a press release, “This is incompatible with the support Israel has declared for a two- solution, and casts doubt once again on [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu Government's commitment to the peace process.”

On Wednesday July 29, Netanyahu's Government announced that it will allow the construction of 300 new housing units in the settlement Beit El in the West Bank and up to 500 more units in East Jerusalem, in both cases on occupied Palestinian territory.

This announcement came on the heels of a ruling by the Israeli Supreme Court the same day that two illegally built residential buildings in the illegal settlement of Beit El would have to be demolished.

Both the United Nations and the International Court of Justice in The Hague declared the areas captured by Israel in the 1967 war as occupied territory and that in allowing settlers in the occupied territory Israel is violating international law.

Brende said, 'The building of settlements on occupied Palestinian territory violates international law and is an ever greater obstacle to a two-state solution.”

He expressed his concern about what Norway perceives as an increasingly confrontational approach on the part of the Israeli settlers.

The pressure is growing, he said, both on the ground and within the Israeli Government. 'When Israel's Government rewards violence and pressure by the settlers by issuing new building permits, there is a danger of the conflict escalating further,' warned Brende.

M.H