Europe’s condemnation of Israel’s settlements and the poverty of international law: When words replace will |
A rare joint statement by fourteen countries condemning Israel’s decision to establish nineteen new settlements in the occupied West Bank has briefly punctured the international silence surrounding one of the longest and most systematic violations of international law in modern history. Co-signed by Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom, the statement acknowledges what Palestinians have known for decades: Israel’s settlement enterprise is illegal, destabilising, and designed to permanently foreclose Palestinian self-determination.
Yet even as the language sharpens, the response remains trapped in ritual. Condemnation without consequence has become the international community’s preferred posture toward Israel — morally expressive, politically inert. Statements are issued, concerns are noted, and violations continue uninterrupted on the ground.
The settlements approved by Israel’s security cabinet, under the stewardship of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, are not isolated bureaucratic decisions. They are the continuation of a deliberate colonial project that violates the Fourth Geneva Convention, multiple UN Security Council resolutions, and the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice. The West Bank is not “disputed territory,” as Israel insists, but occupied land under international law. Transferring an occupying power’s civilian population into occupied territory is explicitly prohibited. No amount of legal sophistry or historical revisionism can erase this.
The joint statement recognises this plainly, warning that such unilateral actions “violate international law” and “risk fuelling instability.” It also acknowledges that settlement expansion threatens the fragile Gaza peace framework and undermines any attempt to move toward a second phase of negotiations. This linkage matters. What happens in the........