Inter-Parliamentary Union chief "disappointed" over Israeli adoption of bill to expand settlements

President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Saber Chowdhury, expressed his "deep disappointment" on Thursday over the Israeli parliament's adoption of the so-called "Regularization Law" on Monday.

The bill legalized the construction of about 3,000 housing units on the private Palestinian land in the West Bank.

"The legislation, an affront to the rule of law, will seriously jeopardize ongoing efforts to secure a peaceful resolution to the conflict in the Middle East, including the two-state solution that the parties have committed to with the strong support of the international community," he said in a statement issued Thursday.

Saying the legislation was consistent with neither national nor international law as evidenced by the United Nation's Security Council resolution 2334, the IPU chief stressed that such a measure would ultimately lead to heightened instability and insecurity for the entire region and beyond.

According to the statement issued Thursday, the IPU president and its secretary general Martin Chungong, are now consulting with the Israeli parliamentary authorities, urging the Knesset, Israel's parliament, to reconsider and repeal this legislation in the interest of peace between the Israeli and Palestinian peoples.

Based in Geneva, the IPU is the global organization of national parliaments, which tries to safeguard peace and drive positive democratic change through political dialogue and concrete action. Endit