The EU’s ambassador to Israel warned that if peace talks with the Palestinians fail due to construction in West Bank settlements, Israel is likely to get the blame for it.
In an interview with the Hebrew-language Walla News website, Lars Faaborg-Andersen laid out potential consequences of the expected announcement this week of further settlement construction.
The diplomat said he had made it clear to Israeli officials that such an announcement could seriously damage the US-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and in such a case Israel could expect to take the rap.
He said that a similar sentiment had been relayed by the ambassadors of the major European powers.
Israeli press reports said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was planning to announce the government’s approval for construction of 1,400 new homes in Jewish communities in East Jerusalem (600) and the West Bank (800).
The announcement was reportedly timed to coincide with the release of 26 Palestinian prisoners convicted for murdering Israelis, as a “gesture” to the Palestinian Authority (PA).
Israel agreed to release 104 prisoners, all convicted before the 1993 Oslo Accords, in four phases over the course of the nine-month negotiation process.
At a meeting of EU Foreign Ministers earlier this month, the EU pledged "unprecedented" levels of support to both Israel and the PA in the event that the two parties reach a final status agreement which would include the establishment of a Palestinian state.