Canada says very worried by Israel's move to legalise settlements

Canada is very concerned by Israel’s move to legalise thousands of settler homes on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank, Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Wednesday.

The Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, which took power in late 2015, is more prepared to criticize Israel than the former Conservative administration, which adopted a resolutely pro-Israel policy.

Read: Netanyahu coordinated legalising settlements with Trump

Israel’s Parliament on Monday approved a law retroactively legalising homes built on privately owned Palestinian land. The move generated broad international condemnation.

“Canada is very concerned … and we want to underline that this expansion of settlements is illegal under international law,” Freeland told reporters on a conference call.

Also read: UN, UK, Turkey slam Israel’s settlement legalisation law

Canada is calling on all parties not to make unilateral moves which could have a negative effect, she added.

Ottawa has long backed a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.