Canada and 21 other countries issued a joint statement on Thursday calling for the immediate halt of a recently approved Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank.

On Wednesday, the Israeli government gave its final approval of a 3,500 apartment expansion plan in a tract of land east of Jerusalem known as E1. The development has been under consideration for more than two decades, but was frozen due to U.S. pressure during previous administrations.

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand and her counterparts called on the Israeli government to "urgently retract" the expansion plan and "stop settlement construction."

"The decision by the Israeli Higher Planning Committee to approve plans for settlement construction in the E1 area, east of Jerusalem, is unacceptable and a violation of inte

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