PARIS, Feb 3 (KUNA) — France on Tuesday condemned the Israeli settlement policy, warning that this created an obstacle to any “credible” re-starting of the peace process.
“France condemns the pursuit of settlements notably in the so called E1 zone in the West Bank,” Spokesman of the French Foreign Ministry Eric Chevalier told reporters.
He added that “this decision goes against the commitments made by the Israeli authorities and risks blocking any credible advance in the peace process”.
He affirmed that “France calls on the Israeli authorities to refrain from all unilateral action that would prejudice the final status of the Palestinian territories”.
Despite the Quartet and Middle Easy Road Map, which calls on Israel to put a full freeze on settlement building, and despite commitments by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to do so in Annapolis in November 2007, Israel has continued its expansion in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. (