Specialist in European affairs Husam Shaker has lauded the growing European criticism of Israel’s settlement activities as “important” but “not enough” stressing that the European position in this regard should be followed by concrete steps.
In press remarks on Wednesday Shaker stated that the European Parliament’s recent rejection of Israel’s new settlement expansion and land annexation legislation “clearly reflected the European parties’ concern over the developments in Palestine in view of the Israeli government’s hardline approach and its insistence on expanding and legalizing settlement construction.”
“There are increasing European positions that reject [Israel’s] settlement expansion and its regulation law and this was clearly stated in the last few days by representative of the European foreign policy Federica Mogherini who called it (the law) a gross act of defiance against the two-state solution” he added.
“The government of Benjamin Netanyahu however does not seem to take such growing European criticism seriously as long as it remains verbal condemnation” he said.
Shaker also expressed his belief that many European lawmakers have become increasingly convinced of the importance of adopting practical steps and imposing sanctions on Israel to curb its persistence in settlement construction that undermines the European efforts to find a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
