The European Union (EU) on Saturday renewed its call on Israel to stop all settlement projects in the occupied Palestinian territories including East Jerusalem.
The EU foreign ministers categorically stressed that the agreements signed with Israel do not apply to the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967 and criticized the Israeli settlement policy.
The EU in a statement asked Israel to backtrack on its plans to build new settlement units in the West Bank warning that such plans pose a threat to any future agreement with the Palestinians.
The Union reiterated that Israel’s settlement activity which is illegal under international law would undermine any possible two-state solution.
Observers believe that the European position on the settlement is the most clear of all international positions because the EU countries are fully aware of the danger posed by Israel’s settlement construction to the peace efforts in the Middle East and because they are politically and historically responsible for the displacement of the Palestinian people.
Renewing the order issued on 19th July 2013 the European Commission in June 2017 issued instructions to the EU countries prohibiting all financing and investing activities related to the Israeli settlements established in the Palestinian and Syrian territories occupied in 1967.
The European Commission published these instructions in its official newspaper in a four-page document that includes five sections. The first section discusses the general principles underlying the document while the other four discuss in details ways of imposing sanctions on the Israeli settlements in the 1967 occupied territories.
The document notes that the EU considers the West Bank East Jerusalem the Gaza Strip and Golan Heights occupied territories which Israel has no sovereignty over.
For his part Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders condemned the Israeli authorities’ decision to build thousands of new settlement units in the West Bank.
Reynders said in a press statement that Israel’s settlement policy “has reached an unprecedented level since the beginning of 2017” adding that this would undermine mutual trust and chances of achieving lasting peace.
He pointed to the UN Security Council’s resolution NO. 2334 which states that settlement in the occupied territories constitutes a violation of international law and demanded Israel to reconsider its latest decisions and abide by its international obligations.
