New European leader against Israeli settlement campaign

British Foreign Ministry sources said on Wednesday that Britain, currently presiding over the European Union, will lead a new European campaign against the expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied Arab lands.

The source said, that the British Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Derek Fatchett is due to start the campaign on Wednesday during his visit to Israel and the Palestinian Authority's areas. The source went on that during his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, Fatchett will convey the EU's anti-Israeli settlement stand.

"The EU position is clear: settlements are both illegal under international law and damaging to the peace process," Fatchett said in a statement from the EU Presidency on January 9. "Both sides must avoid counter-productive unilateral actions of this kind. This is a point which I will be making strongly to the Israeli government when I visit the region."