NEW YORK CITY: The EU on Wednesday criticized newly approved Israeli legislation that tightens control over the occupied West Bank, warning that the move was incompatible with international law and risked undermining efforts to stabilize the region.
Israel’s Security Cabinet approved new rules on Sunday designed to strengthen its control over the territory, make it easier for Israeli settlers to buy land there, and give officials greater powers to enforce laws on Palestinians. Arab and Muslim nations condemned the measures as a step toward illegal annexation.
In a joint statement, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, and European Commissioners Dubravka Suica and Hadja Lahbib warned that the measures breach international law and could damage prospects for peace.
“The new steps approved by Israel’s Security Cabinet for the West Bank are counterproductive and incompatible with international law,” they said, and “risk undermining ongoing international efforts aimed at stabilization and the advancement of peaceful efforts in the region.”
The EU reiterated its long-standing position, in line with UN Security Council resolutions, that it does not recognize Israel’s sovereignty over territories occupied since June 1967.
The bloc also voiced concern that any decisions that affect implementation of the Hebron Protocol, a 1997 agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority governing security and administrative arrangements in the West Bank, could endanger the status quo at sensitive religious sites.
The EU reaffirmed its support for a negotiated two-state solution as the only viable path to lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
It said it remains committed to efforts to achieve a “lasting and sustainable peace in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council, on the basis of the two-state solution,” which envisions Israel and “an independent, democratic, contiguous, sovereign and viable State of Palestine living side-by-side in peace, security, and mutual recognition.”
The EU said it would continue to work with international partners, including through the Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, and called on all involved to avoid any inflammatory action.
“We urge all parties to refrain from unilateral measures which increase tensions and further erode the chances of a negotiated solution,” the officials said.
Restraint was particularly important “at a time when coordinated international efforts are underway to advance peace and stability in the region,” they added.
