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Official Statements
Japan Does Not Recognize Israel’s Annexation of East Jerusalem
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Tokyo- (PanOrient News) The Government of Japan expressed today "its disappointment and deep concern" about the Jerusalem municipal planning committee’s approval of the construction of 942 housing units in Gilo of East Jerusalem.
A statement by the Japanese Foreign Ministry in Tokyo said that the government of Japan "does not recognize any act that prejudges the final status of the territories in the pre-1967 borders nor Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem," and that "Japan renews its call upon Israel to refrain from any unilateral act that changes the current situation in East Jerusalem."
The statement requested "strongly" that both parties will act in a way that enhances mutual confidence."
The Israeli settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian land drew more condemnation worldwide. Catherine Ashton, the high representative for foreign affairs and security in the European Union, said in a statement on Wednesday that the Israeli settlements in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem were illegal according to the international law.
Ashton said she was extremely disappointed at the Israeli approval of building 942 new housing units in Gilo settlement in occupied Jerusalem. She said that the future Israeli plans in occupied Jerusalem would entail more harm to the already fragile political environment.
Such steps ran contrary to efforts aimed at reaching a peaceful solution that would maintain the security of Israel and the right of Palestinians to establish their state, the EU official said.
Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the secretary general of the organization of Islamic conference (OIC), also condemned the recent Israeli decision to build 942 new housing units in occupied Jerusalem.
He charged that “the continued Israeli settlement expansion in the holy city constituted an open war on the Palestinians and their legitimate rights".
In a press release published on the OIC website on Wednesday the secretary general said that the continued Israeli illegal practices target isolating Jerusalem.
"Such practices also target creating new facts on the ground through building more settlement units, confiscating land, demolishing homes, expelling Palestinians, represent a blatant violation of the international law, UN resolutions and the Geneva Convention."
Ihsanoglu called on the international quartet committee and the world community to intervene and demand an end to all settlement activity.
PanOrient News
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