OCCUPIED JERUSALEM – Israel faced concerted criticism from Europe Monday over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to expand settlement building after the United Nations' recognition of Palestinian statehood. Britain, France and Sweden summoned the Israeli ambassadors in their respective capitals to hear deep disapproval of the plan to erect 3,000 more homes in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Ahead of a Netanyahu visit this week, Germany, considered Israel's closest ally in Europe, urged it to refrain from expanding settlements, and Russia said it viewed the Israeli moves with serious concern. But a defiant Israel said it will not backtrack on the settlement expansion plan. An official in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Monday: “Israel will continue to stand by its vital interests, even in the face of international pressure, and there will be no change in the decision that was made." Angered by the UN General Assembly's upgrading Thursday of the Palestinians' status in the world body from “observer entity" to “non-member state", Israel said the next day it would build the new dwellings for settlers. The settlement plan, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, would deal “an almost fatal blow" to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Britain made clear it would not support strong Israeli retaliation over the UN vote, which Palestinians sought after peace talks collapsed in 2010 in a dispute over settlement building. “We deplore the recent Israeli decision to build 3,000 new housing units and unfreeze development in the E1 block," a Foreign Office spokesman said. “We have called on the Israeli government to reverse the decision." But a spokesman for British Prime Minister David Cameron played down talk of recalling Britain's ambassador in Tel Aviv. “We are not proposing to do anything further at this stage," the spokesman said. “We are continuing to have conversations with the Israeli government and others." France expressed “serious concerns" to the Israeli ambassador, reminding him that settlement building in occupied territories was illegal and an “obstacle" to reviving peace talks with the Palestinians. A French Foreign Ministry official, responding to reports Paris might bring its Tel Aviv envoy home, said: “There are other ways in which we can express our disapproval." – Agencies
