JERUSALEM: European leaders have urged Israel to halt a major settlement project in the occupied West Bank, warning that the plan could further damage hopes for a future Palestinian state.
France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Britain, Norway and Canada issued a joint statement after Israeli authorities opened tenders for more than 1,200 homes in the sensitive E1 area, east of Jerusalem.
The countries said the move was especially worrying at a time of rising settler violence against Palestinian civilians and growing restrictions on the Palestinian economy. They called on Israel to withdraw the plans immediately and end settlement expansion in the West Bank.
The E1 project was approved by Israel last year and could further separate East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank. East Jerusalem is occupied and annexed by Israel, but is largely home to Palestinians. The United Nations secretary-general has described the project as an “existential threat” to a contiguous Palestinian state, according to Euro News.
Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot called the tenders “unacceptable”, saying the project would seriously weaken the possibility of a two-state solution.
British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband also demanded that Israel stop the project. Britain summoned Israel’s charge d’affaires, while Miliband said he had raised the issue directly with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar.
Sa’ar rejected the criticism, calling Miliband’s language “patronising”. He said Jewish people had the right to live throughout the Land of Israel, and accused Britain of focusing only on Israel while ignoring Palestinian extremism.
Israel approved the wider E1 plan in August last year for a roughly 12-square-kilometre area between Jerusalem and the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim. The full project includes around 3,400 homes. The latest tender covers more than 1,200 units, according to Israeli rights group Peace Now.
Peace Now said the tender was published on 18 August and opened for bids immediately. Applications are due by 19 October, one week before Israel’s general election on 27 October.
The group accused the government of trying to push construction commitments forward before the vote. Israel restricts movement for many Palestinians in the West Bank, who often need permits to pass checkpoints into East Jerusalem or Israel.
Around three million Palestinians live in the West Bank, excluding East Jerusalem, alongside about 500,000 Israeli settlers.
