The Belgian Foreign Minister, Maxime Prévot, has communicated that Belgium is joining the group of countries that have demanded Israel to stop "immediately" the expansion of settlements in the West Bank, including the project in the E1 area, located east of Jerusalem, an initiative that they have described as "unacceptable".
In a message disseminated on social media, the head of Belgian diplomacy emphasized that "Belgium joins the countries that consider it unacceptable that the Israeli authorities have made a decision contrary to International Law, a decision that endangers the hope for peace between Israelis and Palestinians".
Prévot has stressed that "the settlements are illegal" and that, consequently, the Belgian Government "continues to oppose them" and reaffirms "the need to preserve the possibilities for a peaceful and lasting two-State solution".
Alongside Belgium, Sweden and New Zealand have supported the joint statement released this Thursday by seven countries: the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, the Netherlands, and Norway, while Spain has expressed its rejection of Israel's plans through an independent letter.
In total, these ten States consider that the decision of the government led by Benjamin Netanyahu to put the construction of the E1 settlement out to public tender "is unacceptable" and have reminded it that the Israeli settlements in the West Bank "are illegal", something that, they insist, International Law establishes "clearly".
In the same text, the signatory countries warn that "companies should not consider submitting bids for construction tenders. They must be aware of the legal and reputational consequences, including the risk of being involved in serious violations of International Law".
Furthermore, they denounce the "serious instability" that is already being experienced in the West Bank, fueled in part by the "unprecedented" violence of Israeli settlers against the Palestinian civilian population and by the "severe restrictions on the Palestinian economy", which makes the expansion of settlements — a policy rejected "for a long time" by the international community — "even more concerning".
This project has generated criticism and protests at every step taken since its proposal and, in fact, a dozen countries —including Spain, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany— already asked in May of this 2026 for their companies not to participate in the bidding process linked to the E1 settlements in the West Bank.