Israel ignores criticism; Is the verbal condemnation of the Zionist regime's actions by Western countries sufficient?

Pars Today – The foreign ministers of 21 Western countries jointly condemned Israel's decision to establish new settlements in East Al-Quds.

According to Pars Today, the foreign ministers of the European Union countries, along with the United Kingdom, Australia, and Japan, in a statement on Friday, condemned the Zionists' plan to expand illegal settlements in East Al-Quds, declaring this decision "unacceptable" and a violation of international laws, and demanded its immediate cancellation. These foreign ministers warned in their statement that this plan "makes the two-state solution impossible" and will restrict Palestinians' access to Al-Quds.

The countries that participated in this statement include Australia, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden. Kaja Kallas, the European Union's foreign policy chief, has also joined this statement.

The Zionist regime on Wednesday approved the settlement plan in the (E1) area east of Beit al-Moqaddas with the aim of "striking at the territorial contiguity of the West Bank" and "establishing a Palestinian state." This plan was approved in the settlement committee of the Zionist regime under the chairmanship of Bezalel Smotrich, the regime's finance minister. With the implementation of this plan, which completely separates the northern West Bank from its south, 3,400 new residential units will be built for the Zionists.

In this meeting, Smotrich described the plan to connect the "Ma'ale Adumim" settlement to occupied Al-Quds and sever the land contiguity of the West Bank between "Ramallah" and "Bethlehem" as "the final nail in the coffin" of the idea of establishing a Palestinian state and said: "The Palestinian state is fading away; not with slogans but with action."

In response to this plan, the Zionists claimed that "the historical right of Jews to live in the occupied territories is undeniable" and that their actions are in accordance with international laws.

Israel has occupied the West Bank, East Beit al-Moqaddas, and Gaza since 1967 and, simultaneously with the war with Hamas in Gaza, has expanded settlements in the West Bank.

Currently, about 700,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Al-Quds.

While the verbal condemnation of the Zionist regime's actions in expanding settlements in the territories occupied in 1967 by Western countries is not only not considered a deterrent factor against such blatant Israeli aggressions against Palestinian homes, farms, and facilities, but it is fundamentally lacking any deterrent property against the Zionist regime to prevent the continuation of its expansionist actions.

The new positions of Western countries against Israel, considering the continuation and expansion of the Zionist regime's anti-Palestinian actions in the West Bank, especially the development of Zionist settlements, and in the Gaza Strip, particularly the genocide and use of the weapon of hunger and prevention of humanitarian aid delivery by the Zionist regime, which aims to destroy the people of Gaza and force them to leave Gaza, indicate that the era of all-out support for Israel even in the West has ended, and Tel Aviv is increasingly losing its soft power and ability to persuade public opinion in Western countries, especially in Europe, to justify its criminal actions against the oppressed people of Gaza.

In fact, the crimes of the Zionist regime against the Palestinians of Gaza and its illegal actions against the Palestinians of the West Bank are so obvious and undeniable that Western countries, considering public opinion's sympathy with the Palestinians, have no choice but to verbally condemn Israel's actions; but these countries, especially European ones, take no specific or effective practical measures to prevent Israel's aggressive and criminal actions.

The important point is that the West is fundamentally a supporter and defender of Israel, and even in the early days of the Gaza war, some European leaders, by traveling to occupied Palestine, supported the Zionist regime's severe actions against Gaza. Even now, this action by Western countries, especially European ones, considering the warm and friendly relations of some European member countries of this union like Germany, Hungary, and the Czech Republic with Tel Aviv, is mostly superficial, propagandistic, and hypocritical.

As in the meeting of the European Union foreign ministers, out of 27 member countries, 10 members of this union opposed revising the comprehensive cooperation and trade agreement with Israel, thus showing their practical solidarity with the Zionist regime.