PARIS — Germany and the three other west European members of the U.N. Security Council are preparing a statement condemning Israel’s latest settlement plans in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, two European diplomatic officials said Tuesday.
Permanent council members Britain and France plus Germany and Portugal — who are wrapping up two-year terms — are concerned that such settlements could threaten a possible two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, the officials said. Details of the statement are being finalized in New York, the diplomats said on condition of anonymity because the work was not yet completed.
The two officials said the statement of condemnation will be presented to council members, but the European countries are not seeking to have it approved as an official statement by the council or as a resolution — most likely because of near-certain opposition by the United States, Israel’s closest ally.
The European statement is likely to be issued today, said a U.N. diplomat in New York, speaking on condition of anonymity because negotiations have been private.
The move stems from a string of recent Israeli settlement announcements, the diplomats said, including one Monday in which Israel said it will push forward with plans to build 1,500 apartments in east Jerusalem, the Palestinians’ hoped-for capital.
The statement by key European countries on the U.N.’s most powerful body would be a symbolic, but nonetheless high-profile show of displeasure with the Israelis.
The U.S. government Tuesday also stepped up its criticism of its top Mideast ally. State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland accused Israel of engaging in a “pattern of provocative action” that runs counter to the government’s commitment to peace.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague on Tuesday called all Israeli settlements “illegal under international law.” He urged Israel to reverse its latest expansion plan in east Jerusalem, warning that if implemented “it would make a negotiated two-state solution, with Jerusalem as a shared capital, very difficult to achieve.”
The European Union, Israel’s biggest trading partner, has been increasingly vocal in its criticism of new settlements just as Israel is gearing up for general elections next month.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been unshaken by the criticism, and Tuesday he vowed to continue building in east Jerusalem. “Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the state of Israel, and we will continue to build there. A united Jerusalem expresses a wide national agreement,” he said in the northern Israeli town of Acre.
Front Section, Pages 2 on 12/19/2012