Israel on Friday summoned envoys from four European countries to protest their "one-sided" stand in favor of the Palestinians, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said, in a new episode in the quarrell between the EU and Israel over the settlements issue.
The decision to summon the ambassadors from Britain, France, Italy and Spain came one day after the four countries called in Israel’s ambassadors in the respective capitals to hear protests against Israel's latest announcement of settlement-building.
Earlier this week, Israel announced plans to build 1,400 new homes in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and Jerusalem, a decision that was expected after the release of 26 Palestinian prisoners, convicted for murdering Israelis, as part of a deal made when Israeli-Palestinian talks resumed last July.
A statement by the Housing and Construction Ministry said that ‘’public tenders have been issued for 800 new housing units across Judea and Samaria and 600 homes in east Jerusalem’’.
According to the Ministry spokesman, 801 units were approved for West Bank settlements, including 227 in Efrat, 169 in Elkana and 40 in Ariel. In addition, Karnei Shomron would see an additional 86 units, Alfei Menashe 78, Adam 75, Beiter Illit 24, and Emanuel 102.
The Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo, over the Green Line, would see another 600 units built.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the European criticism of settlement building "hypocritical". , and in a tit-for-tat move, Lieberman said envoys from the four EU countries had been summoned to a meeting in the foreign ministry in Jerusalem.
In announcing his decision to summon the four countries’envoys, Lieberman he said Israel would make clear "that the one-sided position they constantly take against Israel and in favor of the Palestinians is unacceptable and creates a feeling that they are only looking to place blame on Israel."
‘’These policies, evidently relating to Israel’s settlement-building, are “unacceptable, and give the sense that they are just looking for ways to blame Israel,” the minister said in a statement.
Lieberman also instructed his office to tell the EU ambassadors that Israel is making a major effort to enable the talks with the Palestinians to continue, and that their countries’ policies harm the chances of reaching a settlement between the sides.
On Thursday, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the move by the EU states to summon Israeli ambassadors ‘’hypocritical’’. “The European Union called in our ambassadors in the EU because of the construction of a few houses? When did the EU call in the Palestinian ambassadors to complain about the incitement that calls for Israel’s destruction? When do the Palestinian ambassadors get called in to hear complaints about the fact that security officers in the Palestinian security forces are participating in terrorist attacks against innocent Israelis?” he asked.
He reiterated that settlements ‘’aren’t an obstacle to peace at all.
‘’Because the fact is that Jews live here on this land. I mean, what do they want, an ethnically cleansed state? They want to uproot people? I don’t think that’s going to advance peace.”
Addressing foreign journalists and diplomats at at an event organized by the Government Press Office (GPO) in Jerusalem, Netanyahu also said that condemnations of Israeli settlement expansion during the current US-brokered peace talks are unfair, because it was known in advance that construction would continue even during the negotiations.
“We’re keeping in line exactly with the understanding that we undertook at the beginning of the talks,” the prime minister said, asserting that it was “clear that Israel undertook no restraints” on construction. “That was understood,” he expressed. “So when people tell me that these negotiations are hampered by this, [they need to remember] that was part of the deal. Unspoken, unwritten, informal, everybody will say that they oppose it, but it was very clear.”
EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, has called on Israel to halt all construction in the West Bank immediately, and said the building of settlements was detrimental to the ongoing peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
“I was deeply concerned to hear the latest announcement by the Israeli authorities to advance settlement plans once more in the West Bank including East Jerusalem,” she said in a statement.
“The settlements are illegal under international law, constitute an obstacle to peace and threaten to make the two-state solution impossible,” she added.
The foreign policy chief stressed that the EU was willing to assist Israel and the Palestinians in achieving a peace accord, but warned that it would be unable to do so if both sides did not uphold their obligations toward advancing such a deal.