JERUSALEM, July 21 – Germany, France and Sweden on Tuesday joined a widening group of Western nations pressing Israel to stop building settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank

Polenz, head of the German parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, further told the Rheinische Post daily that “Israel is overlooking the fact that neither Palestinians nor Arab states will agree to a solution without East Jerusalem.”

Israel is facing international pressure over its settlement activity, with both the European Union and Russia saying such activity threatens the chance for Mideast peace.

Israel’s deputy prime minister said Tuesday the Obama administration’s call to freeze West Bank settlement construction undermines past agreements between the US and Israel and damages American credibility.

Israel is planning to remove 23 “illegal outposts” from the West Bank in the course of a single day in response to mounting US demands that it halt all settlement activity, it was reported today.

France has summoned the Israeli ambassador in Paris to demand a halt to Jewish settlement building in east Jerusalem, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Tuesday, following similar US action.

In BERLIN – A senior member of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative party on Tuesday urged Israel not to build more settlements, warning it risked political suicide if it continued to do so.