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EU Urges Israel to Halt West Bank Settlement Expansion as Ministers Fail to Agree on Trade Measures
The European Union urged Israel to stop settlement activities in the occupied West Bank after the security cabinet approved 1.3 billion shekels for 34 new settlements. The statement followed days after the funding decision and came amid reported violence in the region.
Jul 17, 6:54 PM·1m read1 source
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The European Union renewed its call on Israel to halt the expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank. An EU spokesperson on Friday urged Israel to stop the legalisation of settlement outposts, land appropriation, demolitions, forced evictions of Palestinians, and other actions that undermine the viability of the two-state solution.
The statement came days after Israel’s security cabinet approved the allocation of 1.3 billion shekels ($427.
The funding package marks one of Israel’s largest recent investments in settlement expansion. The United Nations, the International Court of Justice and most countries consider Israeli settlements in territory occupied by Israel since 1967 to be illegal under international law. Israel rejects that interpretation.
The EU does not recognise Israel’s sovereignty over the territories it occupied in 1967. EU foreign ministers this week failed to reach a consensus on proposals that could restrict trade with settlements in the occupied West Bank. Violence continued in the occupied West Bank.
On Friday, two Palestinian children were taken to hospital after suffering head and facial injuries when Israeli settlers allegedly hurled stones at their family’s vehicle in the Wadi al-Sha’er area, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa. A 16-year-old Palestinian boy was shot by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank and remains in hospital.
“Everybody agrees that the situation in the West Bank is really intolerable,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said ahead of talks among EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday.
