On Thursday 20 September, eight EU member states – the Netherlands, Sweden, Poland, the UK, France, Belgium, Germany and Italy – urged Israel not to demolish the Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar.
"We call on the Israeli authorities to review their decision to demolish Khan al-Ahmar", they say in a statement to the United Nations. "The consequences of demolishing this community and the displacement of its inhabitants, including children, could be very serious, would seriously threaten the viability of a two-state solution and would compromise the prospects of peace", they state.
The same day, six MEPs (including four from the European Parliament's delegation for relations with Palestine) who were back from a four-day visit on the ground, where they met inhabitants of Khan al-Ahmar, stated that "the forcible transfer of people under occupation is a grave breach of international humanitarian law which can amount to a war crime". They asked the EU "to act immediately" and ensure that the residents of the village keep their homes (see EUROPE 12095).
In a press release, the delegation urged "the European Parliament, the Commission and the Council to take decisive action in support of Palestinians’ right to self-determination". "We reiterate our call upon EU member states to recognise the state of Palestine immediately", they said.
The MEPs also called on the Commission and member states "to fully and effectively implement the existing EU Guidelines and Interpretative Notice and the policy of differentiation" between Israeli territory and settlements. "Specifically, no settlement-related activity can benefit from any EU cooperation programme such as Horizon 2020", they stated.
The European Parliament delegation said that to counter the US decision to suspend its funding to the United Nations Relief Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the EU should assume its international responsibility and preserve UNRWA's activities. On this subject, European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy Johannes Hahn announced the same day that he would try "to find additional funding of around €20 million from the EU budget in response to the exceptional financial crisis" that UNRWA is experiencing. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)