For the full article go to “EIPA” http://tinyurl.com/n3crza2
He said that while it was fine for the EU to build in Area C in
coordination with Israel, “in the same breath, there’s a system that… like
thieves in the night, they are building illegal buildings… to create
territorial contiguity for the Palestinians. They are creating facts on the
ground instead of pressuring the Palestinians to return to the negotiating
table.”
On Saturday, the EU issued a statement from the the spokesperson of
the European External Action Service (EEAS), the EU’s diplomatic corps, said that
“in the past weeks there have been a number of developments in Area C of the
West Bank, which risk undermining the viability of a future Palestinian state
and driving the parties yet further apart.”
The EU mentioned in particular that “on 25 January Israel
decided to declare 154 hectares of land near Jericho in the West Bank
as state land, and according to the latest reports, decisions have been taken
to permit further settlement expansion, involving more than 150 new residential
units.”
It also cites the demolishon on 3 February of several Palestinian
residential structures in the south Hebron hills. “We call on the Israeli
authorities to reverse the decisions taken and to halt further demolitions,”
the statement added, recalling that on 18 January EU Foreign Ministers
confirmed “the EU’s firm opposition to Israel’s settlement policy and actions
taken in this context, including demolitions and confiscation, evictions,
forced transfers or restrictions of movement and access.”
While the EU claims that EU humanitarian activities are carried out
‘’in full accordance with international humanitarian law, with the sole aim of
providing humanitarian support to most vulnerable people’’, Israel has
repeatedly criticized the EU for funding constructions that are “illegal” and
are aimed at creating “facts on the ground” in violation of the Oslo Accords.
According to the Israeli Army Radio, the EU has built over 200
illegal structures for Palestinians in Area C, which is under full Israeli
civil and security control since the Oslo accords, in the last several years.
According to the report, the supervisory unit of the Civil
Administration has located ten such structures in the past two weeks and even
caught a truck carrying disassembled parts last week.
While the structures are easily dismantled in a short period of
time, the Civil Administration has expressed concern about keeping up with the
growing phenomenon.
The structures, which typically arrive disassembled in trucks in
the middle of the night, are erected in the early morning with the goal of
expanding existing Palestinian villages in the area.
Most of the buildings are branded with the EU’s symbol or that of
an EU-affiliated organization.
The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories said in
a statement: “All building in area C in Judea and Samaria requires the
permission of the relevant authorities. The Civil Administration takes
enforcement measures against illegal construction in accordance with the law.”
Jerusalem compares the EU moves to build these illegal
structures to international criticism – even from the EU itself – of Jewish
building in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank).
“You come and complain about our unilateral steps to determine
facts on the ground? Here you’re doing the exact same thing on the Palestinian
side,” an Israeli government spokesman charged.
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