The four European Union members of the UN Security Council on Tuesday strongly criticized Israel''s decision to speed up construction of settlements, which they termed a "wholly negative" development. The ambassadors from Britain, France, Germany and Portugal issued a joint statement branding the Israeli settlements in Palestinian occupied territories and East Jerusalem as illegal under international law. "We call on the Israeli government to reverse these steps," the statement said. "The viability of the Palestinian state that we want to see and the two-state solution that is essential for Israel''s long-term security are threatened by the systematic and deliberate expansion of settlements." The statement, issued following the 15-country Security Council''s closed-door discussion on the situation in the Middle East, condemned Israeli settlers'' violence against the Palestinians, including the burning of the Nebi Akasha mosque in West Jerusalem and the Burqa mosque in the West Bank.