EU: Israel harming two-state goal with E1 housing plans
The European Union and France warned Israel it was undermining a two-state solution by advancing plans to build close to 3,500 new homes in an undeveloped area of the Ma’aleh Adumim settlement, known as E1.
It issued a similar warning on February 23 when Israel spoke of a Jewish presence in east Jerusalem, including a new neighborhood in Givat Hamatos and an expansion of Har Homa.
“Settlement construction in these areas will cut the geographic and territorial contiguity between east Jerusalem and the West Bank. Construction in E1 will sever the connection between Northern and Southern West Bank,” the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement he issued on Friday.
“The EU reiterates its call on Israel to halt settlement construction, to suspend the publication of tenders and to refrain from any measures aimed at the advancement of such construction plans. Settlements are illegal under international law,” Borrell said.
“We call on both parties to engage in a dialogue and to refrain from any unilateral action that undermines the viability of the two-state solution,” he added.
The French Foreign Ministry said that the E1 area is of “strategic importance to the two-state solution and the territorial continuity of a future Palestinian state.”
France’s ambassador was one of eight European ambassadors that met on Wednesday with Deputy National Security Adviser Reuven Azar to express their opposition to these projects. The foreign ministers are expected to meet on March 23 to discuss the conflict, including US President Donald Trump’s peace plan.
Under the terms of that plan, Israel can apply sovereignty to all West Bank settlements. It’s presumed that this applies to the E1 area, which is part of Ma’aleh Adumim’s municipal boundaries. Givat Hamatos and Har Homa would remain within sovereign Israel.
Israel holds that development of all three projects is important to ensure a unified Jerusalem.
On Thursday, the Sovereignty Movement held a march in the Gush Etzion region of the West Bank, which included Diaspora Affairs Minister Tzipi Hotovely.
Hotovely said that the “Likud will apply sovereignty” to the settlements, but that it would not support “the establishment of a Palestinian state.” The Trump peace plan speaks of a demilitarized Palestinian state on 70% of the West Bank and in areas of Jerusalem beyond the security barrier. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised to support that plan.
Among those on the sovereignty march were the movement’s co-chairwomen Nadia Matar and Yehudit Katzover as well as World Zionist Organization vice chairman Yaakov Hagoel. They were joined by French immigrants.
Matar urged Israelis who support sovereignty to vote in the March 2 election. “The majority of the people of Israel are right wing. All we need for a victory of the Right is to get to the 300,000 right-wingers who did not vote last time and make sure they go out and vote.”
Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan on Friday said he had just returned from a visit to the European parliament this week and had received support from 15 of its members against the UN blacklist of companies doing business with Israeli entities and people located over the pre-1967 lines in east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.
A European parliamentary group that visited Israel and the Palestinian territories last week, in contrast, called on Europe to do more against settlement products than simply label them.