On Monday 24 March, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, denounced the expansion of settlements and settler violence in the West Bank.
While during her visit to Israel she only mentioned the EU’s concerns about the situation in the West Bank (see EUROPE 13606/11), in Ramallah the High Representative said that military operations in the West Bank were causing displacement and destruction, and that settler violence and settlement expansion were undermining the prospect of a two-state solution.
Alongside her, the Palestinian Prime Minister, Mohammed Mustafa, highlighted “the destruction of homes and civilian infrastructure, the systematic forced displacement of our people from their homes in Palestinian towns and refugee camps in the West Bank, and the attacks on the holy sites in Jerusalem and Hebron”. He recalled that these acts constituted serious violations of international law and of the rights of the Palestinians. According to the Prime Minister, in the last 60 days, 50,000 people have been displaced from refugee camps, particularly in Jenin, by actions of the Israeli army.
On the same day, the Oscar-winning director of the documentary ‘No Other Land’, Hamdan Ballal, was attacked by settlers and then arrested by the Israeli army. In a press release, The Left Group in the European Parliament called on the EU to extend sanctions against Israeli settlers. “The brutal attack on Hamdan Ballal illustrates the increasing violence and repression that all Palestinians now face on a daily basis. (...) If we do nothing, the terrible violence of the settlers and the de facto annexation of the West Bank will continue”, stressed Lynn Boylan (The Left, Irish), Chair of the European Parliament delegation for relations with Palestine.
Questioned by Agence Europe about the situation, the European External Action Service had not yet sent its reaction at the time of going to press.
Support for the reconstruction of Gaza. Looking beyond the West Bank, the Palestinian Prime Minister welcomed the EU’s support for the governance of the Palestinian Authority in Gaza. “In Palestine, we will have a single government, a single law and a single set of weapons”.
He also called on the EU to help rebuild Gaza. “To facilitate the reconstruction effort, we plan to work with our partners on the main levers, including technical, governance, security and political issues”, he explained, adding: “In this respect, we call on the European Union to actively participate in and contribute to the conference on reconstruction”, which will be held in Cairo in May. Ms Kallas promised that the EU would contribute financially to the reconstruction efforts.
Mohammed Mustafa and Kaja Kallas will meet again on 14 April for the first-ever EU/Palestine high-level dialogue. According to the High Representative, this meeting will be “an important basis for strengthening cooperation at several levels for years to come”. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)