Brussels, 07/01/2010 (Agence Europe) - Working relations between the new EU high representative (HR) for foreign policy and the Israeli government under Benjamin Netanyahu look as though they will be strained. This week, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon reiterated his criticism of Catherine Ashton, saying in a carte blanche published in the Belgian daily Le Soir on 6 January that recent comments by the HR condemning the demolition of homes and the eviction of Arab residents from the “occupied territory” of East Jerusalem “are not only fallacious but also make any negotiated settlement of the conflict still harder to attain”. Addressing the European Parliament's committee on foreign affairs on 2 December 2009 (EUROPE 10032), Ashton had said that “East Jerusalem is occupied territory together with the West Bank. The EU is opposed to the destruction of homes, the eviction of Arab residents and the construction of the separation barrier”. Back in December, Ayalon had reacted saying: “Just as the Romans did not succeed in cutting off Jerusalem from Israel, so too will diplomats from the UN and the EU be unsuccessful”. He repeated these remarks on Wednesday in his carte blanche in Le Soir. Ayalon is also against East Jerusalem and the West Bank being described as “occupied territory”, speaking rather of “contested territory”. “The area known as the West Bank cannot be 'occupied' in the legal sense of the term, given that it had never been recognised as sovereign before Israeli conquest. Contrary to some allegations, there has never been a Palestinian state and no country has ever established Jerusalem as its capital, despite the fact that the current Israeli capital has for several centuries been under Muslim dominance”, Ayalon said. (H.B./transl.jl)