On Monday 9 February, the spokesperson for the European External Action Service, Anouar El Anouni, condemned recent decisions by Israel’s security cabinet to expand Israeli control in the West Bank.
“This move is another step in the wrong direction, while the whole international community is making an effort to implement Phase 2 of the comprehensive plan for Gaza”, he told the media.
According to Mr El Anouni, the Israeli measures would impose a “new realities in direct contradiction with the Oslo Accords”, to which Israel is a signatory and under which “Israel has no civilian authority in areas A and B which are under direct authority of the Palestinian Authority”.
The spokesperson added that these decisions could also directly undermine the Hebron Protocol and put at risk the sensitive status quo of religious sites.
Recalling that the annexation was illegal under international law and that any concrete steps taken towards that end would be considered a breach of international law, Mr El Anouni said that the measures proposed by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in September - in particular the partial suspension of Horizon Europe - were still on the table (see EUROPE 13706/1).
The Israeli security cabinet announced on Sunday evening that it had approved a series of decisions designed to “fundamentally alter the legal and civil reality” in the West Bank. The new measures are intended to enable Israelis to buy land in the West Bank, allow the Israeli authorities to administer certain religious sites and simplify the building procedure for Israeli settlers in Hebron. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)