UK warns Israel on settlements

BRITAIN warned Israel yesterday over the expansion of Jewish settlements, stressing any building on occupied Palestinian lands, including in East Jerusalem, was illegal under international law.

"We are very concerned about recent reports of Israeli settlement activity," David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, wrote in a question-and-answer session with Reuters Online. "Britain considers that Israeli settlement building anywhere in the occupied Palestinian territories is illegal under international law.

"This includes settlements in both East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

The questions had been asked last month and were answered by Mr Miliband on Thursday, before a Palestinian gunman shot dead eight students at a Jewish religious school in western Jerusalem.

Israel announced in February that it intended to build 1,100 new homes in East Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed unilaterally in a move that is not recognised internationally.