Foreign Office minister, Tobias Ellwood, said:

The UK is concerned to see plans for 770 settlement units between Jerusalem and Bethlehem progressing. As we have previously made clear, all settlement activity is illegal under international law, and damages prospects for a two-state solution.

The UK is particularly concerned about the impact such settlements may have on Palestinian Christian minorities in the area, who are already affected by renewed construction of the Separation Barrier on Palestinian land in the Cremisan Valley.