European U.N. Security Council members to condemn Israel on homes

PARIS (Reuters) - European nations in the 15-member United Nations Security Council are set to jointly condemn Israel over its plans for Jewish settler homes in east Jerusalem, a European diplomatic source said on Tuesday.

Israel approved plans for a further 1,500 homes on Monday after provoking international protests earlier this month against a project for another 3,000 such homes in a sensitive area known as E1.

"We are working on a declaration from the European Union member nations at the Security Council on this subject," the source said, adding that it would be issued in the coming days.

The four European members are France, Britain, Germany and Portugal.

"We shouldn't just focus on the E1 settlements, but on all of them because if each one of these sees the light of day, they could call into question the creation of a two-state solution."

France and Britain, both permanent members of the Security Council, summoned the Israeli ambassadors in their capitals earlier in December to hear appeals for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reverse course on the settlement program.

"Once the Israeli elections pass in January, we hope there will be more reasonable decisions taken (by the Israelis)," the source said.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said last week it was imperative that France, Britain and the United States became more directly involved in peace negotiations.

(Reporting by John Irish; editing by Andrew Roche)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/european-u-n-security-council-members-condemn-israel-151122605.html

brad pitt and angelina jolie brad and angelina herniated disc sacramento kings luke scott tom benson royals