Germany Postpones Israel Conference over Illegal Settlements

The conference was originally scheduled for 10 May in al-Quds where German Chancellor Angela Merkel was supposed to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet.
 
German side, however declared on Monday that they have decided to postpone the conference until next year.
 
While the spokesman said the German government’s busy schedule was to blame, Israeli daily Haaretz said the delay was meant to signal to Israel Chancellor Merkel’s “dissatisfaction” with a recently-approved law that legalized confiscation of privately owned Palestinian lands on which thousands of settler units are built in the West Bank.
 
The Israeli parliament on 6 February rubber-stamped the so-called “Legalization Bill,” which retroactively legalized structures built on Palestinian land. The move came barely two months after the United Nations Security Council unanimously approved a resolution declaring that settlement construction “constitutes a flagrant violation under international law.”
 
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres blasted the ratification of the bill, emphasizing that it would “have far-reaching legal consequences for Israel.”