Germany says building more Israeli settlements may end 2-state solution

BONN: Germany’s foreign minister has warned that building more Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories could end the prospect of a two-state solution and fuel conflict in the region.

Sigmar Gabriel’s comments came as conflicting statements by the new US administration threw off European allies who had hoped to get some clarity from Washington following US President Donald Trump’s apparent shift in policy on Wednesday regarding the Middle East peace process.

“We are concerned that unlimited construction of settlements will... make a two-state solution impossible and could increase the risks of conflicts in the Middle East, including possible war,” Gabriel told reporters, showing Berlin’s growing frustration about settlement activity in the Israelioccupied West Bank.

A vote by the Israeli Knesset to “legalise” settlements banned under international law further complicated the situation, Gabriel said during a news conference at a G20 foreign ministers meeting.

Trump on Wednesday dropped a US commitment to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, abandoning a major pillar of US Middle East policy.

But on Thursday, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said it would be wrong to say that Washington no longer supported a two-state solution.

French Foreign Minister JeanMarc Ayrault told reporters after a meeting with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that the US position on the Israeli-Palestinian dossier was “very confused and worrying”.

Gabriel, who met with Tillerson later on Thursday, said Germany would continue to advocate a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, calling it “the only realistic option to reduce conflict in the region and prevent the emergency of a new war”.