Brussels, 20/12/2012 (Agence Europe) - In the evening of Thursday 19 December, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton strongly opposed the “unprecedented” expansion of settlements around Jerusalem. She described the approval on 19 December of 2,610 additional housing units in the settlement of Givat Hamatos as “extremely troubling”. “This plan for Givat Hamatos would cut the geographic continuity between Jerusalem and Bethlehem”, she said. Ashton recalled that this approval is on top of those for new housing units at the end of November and for 1,500 housing units in Ramat Shlomo on 18 December. After publication of Ashton's press release, the Israeli government on 20 December apparently authorised the plan for a construction project of 523 housing units as part of a full-term project for 6,000 housing units in Gush Etzion in the south of Bethlehem.
In her press release, Ashton said that the EU “has never been clearer” than it was in its Foreign Affairs Council conclusions of 10 December, in “voicing its strong opposition to settlement expansion” (see EUROPE 10748).
The EU is particularly opposed to the implementation of plans that jeopardise the possibility of a contiguous and viable Palestinian state and of Jerusalem as the future capital of two states, Ashton added, saying that the EU will monitor the situation closely and “its broader implications”, and will act accordingly. She again underlined that the EU calls for “a bold demonstration of political will and leadership from both sides” to break the current impasse and resume negotiations.
On 19 December, 14 of the 15 countries of United Nations Security Council (not the United States) and the UN called on Israel to renounce its settlement plans. (CG/transl.fl)