Israel has accused its closest ally, the United States, of endorsing a concerted
European backlash against its plans to expand settlements in east Jerusalem and
the West Bank
Five European countries, including Britain, have registered formal protests
with Israeli ambassadors over last week’s decision by Benjamin Netanyahu’s
government to build 3,000 settlers’ homes and develop an area of the West Bank
that could render a Palestinian state unviable.
Along with Australia and Brazil, they were joined by Egypt, threatening to
destabilise its fragile regional relations.
The Egyptian foreign minister said it had registered a “strong protest” with
Israel’s Cairo ambassador
over the proposals.
Despite the mounting international protest however, Mr Netanyahu’s office
indicated there would be no backing down over its settlement plans.
An official in Mr Netanyahu’s office told the AFP news agency: “There will be
no change in the decision that has been made.”
He spoke after Israel said that, in addition to last week’s announcement, it
would also revisit plans to build 1,700 homes in Ramot Shlomo in east Jerusalem,
and another 2,600 in Givat Hamatos.
The Ramot Shlomo development was shelved in 2010 after it provoked a row with
the US.
Britain, France, Sweden, Spain and Denmark all summoned Israeli envoys on
Tuesday to protest over the settlement plans, while Germany and the UN secretary
general, Ban Ki-Moon, denounced it.
The newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, quoted unnamed Israeli diplomats as saying
the outcry could not have occurred without the complicity of the Obama
administration, which has profound differences with Mr Netanyahu over
settlements.
“We would not be mistaken to say that Europe was acting with Washington’s
encouragement,” the paper’s commentator, Shimon Shiffer wrote. “The White House
authorised Europe to pounce on the Netanyahu government and to punish it.”
One Israeli official told the Daily Telegraph that while the US was unlikely
to have ordered such a move, it may have signalled approval.
“It’s more likely that they [the Americans] have been informed and have not
raised any objection, but also showed some understanding and maybe even more,”
he said. “There’s probably an understanding between the US and the Europeans
that this is the right thing to do at this point.”
The former US ambassador to Israel, Dan Kurtzer, accused Mr Netanyahu of
unveiling plans to develop the previously off-limits E1 section of the West Bank
to punish President Barack Obama for failing to endorse a previous
American-Israeli understanding that many settlements would remain despite any
future peace deal. “It wasn’t just retribution at the UN, it was retribution at
the US as well,” he told the liberal Haaretz newspaper.
William Hague, the foreign secretary, dismissed the possibility of European
Union sanctions against Israel but said other measures could be applied.
“If there is no reversal of the decision that has been announced, we will
want to consider what further steps European countries should take,” he said.
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