The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (here), France (here), Egypt (here), the Gulf Cooperation Council (here) and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (here) have all expressed their condemnation of Israel’s decision to approve the building of 800 new settlement units in the West Bank. France called on the parties to avoid any unilateral measures that could undermine the two-state solution. For his part, the Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Nayef Al-Hajraf, said that all settlements are illegal and constitute a major obstacle to reviving the peace process in the Middle East region. He affirmed the GCC’s support for the Palestinian people and its legitimate right to establish an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital, following the Arab Peace Initiative and United Nations resolutions. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman; Ahmed Hafez said that He said that this measure comes at a time several international parties are joining efforts to revive negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis, pointing out the negative consequences such measures could have on the security and stability of the region.