HELSINKI: Norway condemns Israel’s decision to “legalize” five settlement outposts in occupied Palestinian territory, Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said on Thursday.

He added that Norway found it “totally unacceptable” that Israel had also decided to advance the approval of 6,016 housing units for settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Barth Eide added that Norway found it “totally unacceptable” that Israel had also decided to advance the approval of another 6,016 housing units for settlements in the West Bank.

He said the decisions undermined efforts to establish peace in the region and demanded Israel reverse them. War between Israel and Hamas has been raging in Gaza for
almost nine months.

“Israelis and Palestinians deserve to live their lives in peace and security, with freedom, dignity and equal rights. The two-state solution is the only viable solution,” Barth Eide said, referring to Norway’s earlier stance.

Most countries deem Jewish settlements built on land Israel occupied in a 1967 war to be illegal. 

Norway, which recognized Palestine as a state in May, has been a vocal supporter of a two-state solution to end the generations-old conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Interim peace accords were brokered in Norway in the 1990s.

An Israeli anti-settlement monitoring group earlier said the government had approved plans to build nearly 5,300 new homes in settlements in the West Bank.

It is the latest move by Israel’s hard-line government to beef up the settlements.

Peace Now says the government’s Higher Planning Council approved or advanced plans for 5,295 homes in dozens of settlements.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is dominated by settlers and their supporters. 

He has placed a former settler leader, Bezalel Smotrich, in charge of settlement policy.

COGAT — the Israeli defense body that oversees the planning council — referred questions to Netanyahu’s office, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Israel’s far-right Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has turbocharged land seizure and settlement construction since being granted expanded powers over Israel’s administration of the occupied territory under the current governing coalition, the most religious and nationalist in Israel’s history.

Smotrich laid out his plans for the West Bank at a conference for his ultranationalist Religious Zionism Party last month, a recording of which was obtained by Peace Now. 

He said he intended to appropriate at least 15 sq. km. of land in the West Bank this year.

He also promised to expand the establishment of farming outposts, which hard-line settlers have used to extend their control of rural areas and to crack down on Palestinian construction.

LONDON: The Gaza war is a top issue for one in five Asian voters in the UK, The Independent reported on Thursday.

As the British public heads to the polls for the July 4 general election, a new study conducted by the newspaper revealed that some Muslim voters have “lost their trust” in Labour over the party’s stance on the war.

But Labour still “looks set to match their strong national performance” with a high vote share among ethnic minorities in Britain, said Ed Hodgson, research manager at More in Common.

Asian voters are six times more likely to view the war as a “major issue” compared to white voters (20 percent versus 3 percent), it found.

Though Labour may have harmed its reputation with Muslim voters, the issue may only become relevant after the election, Hodgson said.

Party leader Keir Starmer has faced criticism over his decision to avoid calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza in favor of “humanitarian pauses.”

The poll “highlights significant concerns across Muslim communities and wider British society,” said Zara Mohammed, general secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain.

“Many are pained by what is happening in Gaza and are dissatisfied with the political response from the major parties and the current leadership,” she added.

“There is also a strong desire to ensure that Britain is not complicit in the ongoing genocide case against Israel.

“For the upcoming election, it will be crucial for the next prime minister and government to effectively achieve a long-term peaceful solution in the Middle East.”

According to the poll, 19 percent of Asian voters say a Labour victory would make their life worse.