Turkey condemns Israeli settlements in West Bank

By Zuhal Demirci

ANKARA

Turkey has "strongly" condemned Israeli parliament’s approval of a controversial law that retroactively approved thousands of illegal settlement homes in the occupied West Bank.

In a statement released Tuesday, Turkish Foreign Ministry said: "We strongly condemn Israeli parliament's adoption of a law that gives approval to various settlements consisting of 4,000 units built on the private property of the Palestinians."

Israel's illegal settlement activities in occupied Palestinian territories are unacceptable, the statement said.

The lawmakers in the Knesset voted 60 to 52 to approve the bill late on Monday.

International law views the West Bank and East Jerusalem as "occupied territories" and considers all Jewish settlement-building activity on the land as illegal.

Roughly 500,000 Israelis now live in more than 100 Jewish-only settlements built since Israel occupied the Palestinian West Bank and east Jerusalem in 1967.

The Palestinians want these areas -- along with the Gaza Strip -- for the establishment of a future Palestinian state.