Japan deplores construction of housing units in Ramat Shlomo – Statement by Japan’s FM/Non-UN document

Statement by the Press Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, on the decision regarding

the construction of housing units for Jewish people in East Jerusalem

1.  The Government of Japan deeply deplores that, according to the information, the Israeli government has announced the approval of plans for the construction of 1,500 new housing units in Ramat Shlomo in East Jerusalem.

2.  The Israeli government continues its plan for settlement construction and accelerates such acts in recent days at a time when the international community is making utmost efforts to resume direct negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian sides. This clearly goes against the ongoing efforts by the international community toward realizing a two-state solution.

3.  Settlement activities are a violation of international law, and Japan has repeatedly called upon Israel to fully freeze settlement activities. The Government of Japan strongly calls upon Israel to refrain from any unilateral act that changes the current status of East Jerusalem as well as not to implement the above-mentioned plans of construction for the sake of progress in the peace process.

(* The foregoing is a provisional translation. The date indicated above denotes the date of issue of the original press release in Japanese.)