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The Knesset’s approval of a controversial new law, which retroactively legalises some West Bank homes built on private Palestinian land, has sparked criticism from international leaders.

In a statement, Foreign Office Minister Tobias Ellwood said: “It is of great concern that the bill paves the way for significant growth in settlements deep in the West Bank, threatening the viability of the two-state solution.” He cautioned that “as a longstanding friend of Israel” the new law “damages Israel’s standing with its international partners”.

European Union (EU) foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini commented: “This law crosses a new and dangerous threshold.” She added: “Should it be implemented the law would further entrench a one-state reality of unequal rights, perpetual occupation and conflict.”

Critical statements were also issued by France’s President Francois Hollande and the United Nations’ (UN) Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer declined to comment in detail. He said it would be discussed when President Trump meets Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House next week.

Netanyahu’s office defended the Regulation Law yesterday, emphasising that it is designed to address the reality of Israelis who unintentionally built homes on land which does not belong to the state, calling it “a very balanced solution for land owners as well as for families facing the risk of evacuation”.

The statement added: “It is important to stress that the law will only apply to a limited number of existing cases and is in no way a license to expropriate land.”

The new law allows settlers the retroactive right to live in outposts which were established with government help and will consequently legalise as many as 4,000 West Bank homes. Control over the land’s use will be transferred to the Commissioner of Government Property in the West Bank. Palestinian landowners will have the choice of compensation amounting to a sum exceeding the land’s actual worth, or being granted alternative plots of land.