Japan on Tuesday urged Israel to "fully freeze" illegal settlement activities after Tel Aviv on Sunday approved measures aimed at altering the legal and civil framework in the occupied West Bank to strengthen Israeli control.
Tokyo "is deeply concerned" that the government of Israel amended a series of measures, including real estate transactions, in the West Bank and implied acceleration of development of settlements, Foreign Ministry Press Secretary Toshihiro Kitamura said in a statement.
Japan reiterates its "deep regret over the continuing unilateral acts, including settlement activities, by the government of Israel despite repeated calls by the international community, including Japan, and once again strongly urges the government of Israel to redress the decision and fully freeze its settlement activities," he added.
Tokyo also called on Tel Aviv to take "appropriate measures promptly" to prevent settler violence and expressed the "urgency to refrain from any actions that escalate tensions, including those in the West Bank, amidst the ongoing international efforts to stabilize the situation surrounding the Gaza Strip."
"Settlement activities are in violation of international law and undermine the viability of a two-state solution. Japan will exert every diplomatic effort to halt the Israeli government's settlement activities, working with the international community," the statement added.
On Sunday, Israel's Security Cabinet ordered the repeal of a law barring the sale of Palestinian land to Jews in the West Bank, the unsealing of land ownership records, and the transfer of building permit authority in a Hebron settlement bloc from the Palestinian municipality to Israel's civil administration.
The expansion would allow demolitions and seizures of Palestinian property, even in areas under the civil and security administration of the Palestinian Authority.
The International Court of Justice declared Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory illegal in a landmark opinion in July 2024 and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Israel has intensified its military operations in the West Bank since launching its war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023, including killings, arrests, forced displacement and settlement expansion, a trajectory Palestinians say is aimed at paving the way for the formal annexation of the occupied territory.
