Statement by the Press Secretary/Director-General for Press and Public Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the Decision of the Government of Israel Regarding the Suspension of New Construction at the Settlements

November 26, 2009
Japanese

The Government of Japan takes the Israeli Government's decision to suspend new settlement construction for a period of ten months as a positive move in the right direction.
As it has reiterated, the Government of Japan considers both parties' (Israel and Palestinians) implementation of the obligations of previous agreements essential. In this regard, Japan hopes that the Government of Israel will freeze settlement activities including "natural growth" in the West Bank which includes East Jerusalem.
It is incumbent on both Israel and the Palestinians to make more efforts to realize the two-state solution. Japan strongly hopes that the peace negotiations will be resumed under the agreement of both parties.

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