"There are 32 humanitarian crises around the world, but the EU chooses to disproportionately focus only on what is done in Area C of the West Bank, which are most definitely not suffering a humanitarian crisis,” the Israeli foreign ministry’s Diector for Europe, Avivit Bar-Ilan, told a European diplomat who was summoned to the ministry.

Bar-Ilan’s comment came after the EU issued a protest against planned demolition by Israel of unauthorized Palestinian buildings in the West Bank. EU Ambassador to Israel Lars Faaborg-Andersen delivered a letter of protest to Foreign Ministry General Yuval Rotem last week.

The letter, delivered on behalf of all 28 EU member countries, demanded that Israel stop demolishing Palestinian homes in Area C, especially in the Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar. It said the demolitions would amount to the forcible transfer of village residents, a violation of the Geneva Convention.

Khan al-Ahmar is home to a few hundred people who live in temporary structures.

The EU Deputy Ambassador to Israel, Mark Gallagher, was summoned to the foreign ministry in Jerusalem.

The ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said that during the meeting with Gallagher, Avivit Bar-Ilan, told him that the buildings being destroyed were constructed illegally. She reminded that "in Israel, illegal construction is dealt with according to the law." according to ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon.

She also reportedly asked the EU diplomat to "stop being so obsessive" about matters in the West Bank.

Under the Oslo agreements, Area C is under exclusive security and administrative control of Israel. Despite this, the EU has provided modular housing for Palestinian and Bedouin herding villages, particularly in the area of Ma’aleh Adumim and the South Hebron Hills. It argues that such structures fall under humanitarian aid, and that international law allows it to provide such housing to Palestinians, even if it goes against Israeli law. Israel says the buildings were built without permits.

‘’You need the approval of the Israeli civil administration,’’ Dore Gold, former Director General of the Israeli foreign ministry, told a conference in the European Parliament last week. ‘’In Area C, Palestinians ave no jurisdiction.’’

‘’The Oslo II Agreements were witnessed by the European Union so I don’t undertand why the EU contributes to violate them,’’ Gold, who is director of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

He noted that the illegal EU structures are mainly built on the main highway connecting Jerusalem to the Jordan Valley. ‘’Should Israel approve such structures on a highway that is of utmost importance for its security?,’’ he asked.