Egypt’s foreign minister condemned Israel on Nov 4 for its decision to expand Jewish settlement building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, a move that is likely to delay the revival of peace talks. Israel decided to accelerate Jewish settlement building on Nov 1, the day after UNESCO awarded the Palestinians full membership of the UN cultural agency. “Egypt condemns the Israeli decision to accelerate the building of 1,000 units in East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank,” Amr Ali said in a statement.
Israel’s decision was a “blow to all efforts exerted to reach a fair settlement to the conflict and Palestinian issue” and also a provocation to Palestinians. The UNESCO decision was regarded as a diplomatic victory for the Palestinian Authority, which has pushed to be recognized as a state at the UN. Israel called the UNESCO decision a “tragedy” and the United States said it would stop its funding of the organization.