EU urges Israel to reverse new settlements decision

(BRUSSELS) - EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton urged Israel on Wednesday to backtrack on its decision to accelerate building of new settlements in response to Palestinian accession to UNESCO.

"I am deeply concerned by the latest Israeli decisions to expedite settlement activities in response to Palestinian accession to UNESCO," Ashton said in a statement.

"Israeli settlement activity is illegal under international law including in East Jerusalem and an obstacle to peace. We have stated this many times before," she said.

"We call on Israel to reverse this decision and call on both sides to continue their engagement with the Quartet on advancing peace efforts," Ashton said, referring to the four powers seeking to revive Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

Britain, France and Germany also condemned the move as a blow to Middle East peace efforts.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday defended the decision to speed up settlement building.

"We build in Jerusalem because it is our right and our obligation; not as punishment but as a basic right of our people to build its eternal capital," Netanyahu told members of parliament.

His inner cabinet decided Tuesday to accelerate construction of Jewish settlements in annexed Arab east Jerusalem and elsewhere in the West Bank, a day after the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation accepted Palestine as a full member.

Israel claims the whole of Jerusalem as its "eternal, indivisible capital", including the city's eastern sector, which it annexed shortly after capturing it in the Six Day War of 1967 in a move never recognised by the international community.

But the Palestinians demand east Jerusalem as the capital of their promised state.