On Friday 25 November, the European Union criticised the announcement of new housing units in the Ramat Shlomo settlement in East Jerusalem, saying that Israel's settlement policy is jeopardising peace.
The policy of settlement construction and expansion, which is illegal under international law, "continues to undermine the contiguity of a future Palestinian state and therefore raises questions about Israel's stated commitment to the two-state solution", the spokesperson for the European External Action Service (EEAS) said in a press release. Reiterating the Quartet's July 2016 report (European Union, Russia, USA and United Nations), the spokesperson said that "the settlement policy, designation of land for exclusive Israeli use and the denial of Palestinian development are steadily eroding the viability of the two-state solution and represent a threat to achieving a negotiated peace".
As regards the Jerusalem municipality's announcement to advance plans for 500 new housing units in Ramat Shlomo, the EEAS spokesperson said that that "it would affect land privately owned by Palestinians, and extend the settlement northeast, further encroaching on Palestinian inhabited areas, while linking to expansion of a neighbouring Israeli settlement to the west". This project dates back to 2014 but has never been implemented until now. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)