Eight European Union (EU) states have written an official protest letter to Israel demanding over €30000 in compensation for confiscating equipment and demolishing structures and infrastructure funded by their countries for Palestinian communities in Area C of the occupied West Bank which is under Israeli control.
A senior European diplomat told Haaretz newspaper that the letter which is the first of its kind would be delivered to senior foreign ministry officials within a few days.
According to the European diplomat Belgium was leading the move. The other countries involved in drafting the letter are France Spain Sweden Luxembourg Italy Ireland and Denmark. All eight countries are members of the West Bank Protection Consortium a body through which they coordinate humanitarian assistance for Palestinian natives in Area C.
The countries were protesting the confiscation of solar panels they had installed in Bedouin communities and the demolition of mobile structures that were financed in various Bedouin communities to serve as school classrooms according to Haaretz.
The protest letter was first disclosed by the French newspaper Le Monde.
The Hebrew newspaper quoted the diplomat as saying that the eight states stressed in their letter that if Israel does not unconditionally return the equipment it seized they would demand compensation.
“The demolition and seizure of humanitarian equipment including school infrastructure and the interference in the transfer of humanitarian assistance contravenes Israel’s obligations under international law and causes suffering to the Palestinian residents” the letter is expected to emphasize.
The letter is the second step these countries have taken on this issue. A month and a half ago diplomats from the eight countries came to meet with the head of the Israeli foreign ministry’s Europe desk Rodica Radian-Gordon to protest Israel’s violations against Bedouin communities in Area C Haaretz said.
According to a senior Israeli foreign ministry official Belgian ambassador to Israel Olivier Belle said during that meeting that if Israel did not return the equipment it had seized his country would formally demand compensation.
Belle was the only one at that meeting to raise the issue of compensation but in the ensuing weeks he apparently managed to persuade his European counterparts to turn the demand into a joint position that would be officially conveyed to Israel.
Israel categorically rejects the demand for compensation according to Haaretz and claims that the European activity in Area C is not humanitarian assistance but illegal development that is done without coordination and with the aim of strengthening the Palestinians’ hold on Area C.
However the European position affirms that under the Geneva Convention Israel is responsible for dealing with the everyday needs of the Palestinian population in Area C and since it is not doing so the European states are stepping in with humanitarian aid.
