European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has urged the Israeli authorities to reconsider their plans and to reverse their decision to build new homes in East Jerusalem.
The Jerusalem municipality said its planning committee approved building permits in the neighborhoods of Har Homa, Neve Yaakov and Pisgat Zeev.
In a statement issued on Thursday, Ashton said : ‘’I am deeply concerned at the announcement by the Jerusalem municipal authorities of their approval of building permits for 558 new units in East Jerusalem, in Har Homa, Neve Yaakov and Pisgat Zeev.’’
‘’These plans could put at risk the prospects of Jerusalem becoming the capital of two states and, in particular, the territorial contiguity between East Jerusalem and the southern West Bank,’’ she added.
She reiterated that the EU and the international community ‘’have repeatedly warned that any unilateral action prejudging the final status of Jerusalem threatens the current peace negotiations and, as a consequence, the two-state solution.’’ ‘’Any such developments must be avoided at all costs,’’ Ashton said.
Earlier this week, the EU ambassador to Israel warned that “if Israel continues to expand its presence beyond the Green Line, without a peace agreement being signed, it “will find itself increasingly isolated.”
‘’If peace Israeli-Palestinian peace talks fail, the blame will be put on Israel’’ and it would likely face ‘’increasing isolation,’’ Lars Faaborg-Andersen told Channel 2 television.