The European Union has called on the Israeli regime to reverse expansionist plans in the occupied West Bank.
On Friday, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton expressed “great concern” over Tel Aviv’s plans to grab more land near the Gush Etzion settlement, south of Bethlehem, and plans to build new illegal settlements in the southern city of al-Khalil (Hebron).
“The EU calls on the Israeli authorities to reverse these decisions,” Ashton said, adding that such events are “not conducive to the climate of trust and cooperation needed for the current peace negotiations to succeed.”
She also called for “utmost restraint and responsibility in order not to jeopardize the current negotiation process.”
On March 20, acting Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas said the US-mediated talks had reached an “impasse” because of Tel Aviv’s “settlement activity”.
The last round of Israeli-Palestinian talks broke down in 2010 after the Tel Aviv regime refused to halt its settlement construction.
The presence and continued expansion of Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine has created a major obstacle for the efforts to establish peace in the Middle East.
More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds in 1967.
The United Nations and most countries regard the Israeli settlements as illegal because the territories were captured by Israel in a war in 1967 and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbid construction on occupied lands.
NT/MHB/MAM
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