On Saturday 22 February, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, denounced the announcement of an imminent decision on new settlements in East Jerusalem.
In the midst of the campaign for the legislative elections, Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu announced the creation of 4,000 new housing units in Givat Hamatos and 2,200 units in Har Homa.
“We call on Israel to reconsider these plans”, the High Representative stressed in a statement, saying that “such steps would be deeply detrimental to a two-State solution”. He reiterated that this decision would “sever the geographical and territorial contiguity between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, isolate Palestinian communities living in these areas, and threaten the viability of a two-State solution, with Jerusalem as the capital of both States”.
Mr Borrell recalled that the settlements are illegal under international law and that the European Union will not recognise “any changes” to the pre-1967 borders, “including with regard to Jerusalem, other than those agreed by the parties”.
This announcement of new settlements is the first after the presentation of the American peace plan. This plan includes recognition of the settlements as belonging to Israeli territory and the sovereignty of the Jewish State over the Jordan Valley; in return, Israel would have to freeze settlement activity for four years (see EUROPE 12414/12).
Asked by Al Arabia about this plan in an interview broadcast on 22 February, the High Representative said that it is not enough to say that the plan is not good, but to see whether the EU is “capable of coming up with something better” or if it is using the US initiative to end more than four years without peace talks (see EUROPE 12418/14).
European foreign ministers are expected to discuss the Middle East at their meeting at the end of March. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)