SAFA - British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband has condemned Israel’s planned E1 settlement project in the occupied West Bank as “unacceptable and destructive,” warning that it threatens the viability of a two-state solution.

In a statement, Miliband said the project would cut across the heart of the occupied Palestinian territory and risk separating the West Bank from East Jerusalem.

He said he had told Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar that the Israeli occupation government must immediately halt the E1 plans, withdraw the tender and stop settlement expansion.

The UK also summoned Israel’s chargé d’affaires to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to formally convey its “profound objection” and demand that the move be reversed.

Miliband said settlement expansion and settler violence have had a “catastrophic” impact on Palestinians, warning that attempts to create irreversible divisions on the ground threaten peace, security and the prospects for a viable Palestinian state.

“All settlements damage that prospect and are a flagrant breach of international law,” he said.

“Britain will not stand back and accept the destruction of the two-state solution.”

Miliband said the UK would announce a comprehensive package of measures in the coming weeks to respond to Israeli occupation government policies, protect the viability of a Palestinian state and impose sanctions on those involved in settlement expansion.