NAN-F-39
Settlement
Tel Aviv, Feb. 13, 2017 (dpa/NAN) German Chancellor Angela Merkel has delayed a meeting with the Israeli government in response to a recently passed settlement legalisation law, German Foreign Ministry said in a statement issued on Monday.
According to the statement, the official response was that the meeting planned for May 10 has to be delayed due to elections in September.
It said that another major reason was Merkel’s dissatisfaction with the law passed earlier this month.
The law, which prompted condemnation from several countries and international organisations, stipulates that settlements found to be illegally built on Palestinian-owned land will not be removed.
“The confidence we had in the Israeli government’s commitment to the two-state solution has been profoundly shaken,” it said.
The delay to the German-Israeli summit, a nearly annual meeting since 2008, is one of several ways Germany plans to express its displeasure with the law using diplomatic and public channels. (dpa/NAN)
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Edited by Celine-Damilola Oyewole/Grace Yussuf