EU says no sign of Israel axing settlement plans

JERUSALEM (AFP) ― The EU has yet to see any signs that Israel is planning to axe plans to build settler homes in a highly contentious strip of West Bank land near Jerusalem, despite huge pressure, a top official said Tuesday.

“We’ve not had any signal or message back, for the time being, to indicate that this message has been heard and has been acted upon,” Andrew Standley, the European Union’s ambassador to Israel told reporters.

“There have been in fact, to the contrary, further messages or announcements saying Israel will act upon what it considers to be its strategic interests, which may suggest that if it sees more measures as necessary it will take more measures,” he said.

“This is not what we are asking for.” Israeli plans to build in E1, a strategic corridor of land just east of Jerusalem, have sparked a diplomatic backlash since they were announced on Friday, with at least seven world governments summoning the Israeli ambassadors to denounce the move in an extremely rare step.

Calls for Israel to cancel its construction plans have come from top EU, U.S. and U.N. officials as well as from dozens of world governments.

But Israel has dug its heels in and refused to go back on the decision.

Although it was clear that construction in E1 was years away, Israel’s announcement was “a very disturbing phenomenon” as building there would cut off Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank and compromise the territorial integrity of a future Palestinian state, Standley said.

He said there was a growing sense of “frustration” in Europe over Israel’s ongoing settlement building on occupied or annexed Palestinian land, with EU foreign ministers set to discuss the issue at talks in Brussels on Monday.

“There are now discussions going on in Brussels in preparation for the next foreign affairs council meeting on Monday following which we will have a clearer sense of the political reaction to the recent developments,” Standley said.

He refused to speculate on whether Europe would change its policy towards Israel or begin taking tougher practical steps in response to its settlement activities, but said there was growing concern that prospects of reaching a two-state solution were quickly slipping further out of reach.

“There’s increasing concern that the possibility of the two-state solution is slipping away,” he said, with Israel’s announcement increasing the danger that that process “could accelerate.”

But he said it was “too early to say” whether Europe’s harsh denunciation of Israel’s E1 plans marked a change in EU policy.