Sunday 28 December 2025 - 08:58
Europe Condemns Israeli Settlements, but International Law Remains Toothless

A rare joint statement by fourteen countries—including Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and the United Kingdom—condemned Israel’s approval of nineteen new settlements in the occupied West Bank. The statement acknowledged what Palestinians have long maintained: Israel’s settlement enterprise is illegal, destabilizing, and designed to block Palestinian self-determination permanently.

Hawzah News Agency- Yet, as Ranjan Solomon observes, the strong language has produced little practical effect. Condemnation without consequences has become the default international posture toward Israel: morally expressive but politically inert. Statements are issued, concerns are noted, but settlements continue to expand on the ground.

The settlements, approved by Israel’s security cabinet under Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, are part of a systematic colonial project violating the Fourth Geneva Convention, numerous UN Security Council resolutions, and the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice.

Many of the governments issuing these condemnations continue to arm Israel, deepen trade ties, and shield it diplomatically, creating a stark contradiction: international law is invoked rhetorically but denied as an enforcement mechanism.

The next step, Solomon argues, must be action: suspending arms transfers linked to settlements, applying trade consequences, supporting International Criminal Court processes, and ending Israel’s diplomatic immunity. Palestinians do not need statements—they need the international community to defend the law it proclaims.

Until that happens, each new settlement, each annexation, and each demolished Palestinian home serves as a stark indictment not just of Israeli policy, but of a world that recognizes the crime and chooses to do nothing.

Source: EUPAC

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