Paris denies that it is considering recalling its ambassador after Israel announces move to build in E1 corridor, between Jerusalem and Ma’aleh Adumim
The foreign ministries of France, Britain and Sweden on Monday summoned and sharply rebuked the Israeli ambassadors to their countries, following a series of steps taken by Israel in response to the Palestinian move to receive nonmember observer state status at the United Nations. An Israeli official quoted by Israel Radio said the tone of the rebukes was “harsh and very unpleasant.”
A British Foreign Office spokesman issued a severely worded condemnation of an Israeli government decision on Friday to approve 3,000 housing units in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, including in the controversial E1 corridor that connects Jerusalem to Ma’aleh Adumim, one of Israel’s largest settlements, and called on Israel to reverse the initiative.
“We deplore the recent Israeli government decision to build 3,000 new housing units and unfreeze development in the E1 block. This threatens the viability of the two state solution,” the spokesman said. “Any decision about any other measures the UK might take will depend on the outcome of our discussions with the Israeli government and with international partners including the US and European Union.”
Elsewhere in Europe, Germany and Russia joined the chorus of condemnations, with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs tweeting a steady stream of denunciations.
@MFA_Russia
MFA Russia
The latest round of condemnatory measures comes amid reports by Haaretz and Sky News that the UK and France were considering, among other measures, recalling their ambassadors from Israel in response to the Israeli government’s announcement Friday that it was authorizing new construction in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
A Foreign Ministry official denied that the UK and France were mulling initiatives to recall their ambassadors.
The French and British embassies in Israel declined comment on the report, but a British Embassy official said Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague “has consistently made it very clear that the UK would not support a strong reaction” to the decision to grant the Palestinians nonmember state status. France denied that it was considering recalling its ambassador from Tel Aviv.
In the UN General Assembly vote last week, the UK abstained, while France voted in favor of the Palestinian motion, which passed by 138 votes to 9 and which PA President Mahmoud Abbas has hailed as official international recognition of a Palestinian state.
Israel has come under intense international criticism for the construction decision. On Sunday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s spokesperson issued a scathing rebuke, saying that the move “risks completely cutting off East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank” and that “it would represent an almost fatal blow to remaining chances of securing a two-state solution.”
Foreign Ministry officials on Monday lamented the fact that it was Israel’s reaction to the UN vote recognizing the Palestinians as a nonmember observer state, rather than the PA’s own unilateral move to upgrade its status, that was setting the international agenda.
But Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar, a member of Netanyahu’s inner circle of nine ministers, rejected the mounting pressure on the government. “Anyone who thinks Ma’aleh Adumim is not going to be connected to Jerusalem is mistaken,” he told Army Radio on Monday.
Tzipi Livni, the head of the newly formed Hatnua (The Movement) party, slammed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the wake of the reports, saying recent developments were proof that the prime minister’s diplomatic strategy was detrimental to Israeli interests.
In the past month, with Operation Pillar of Defense and Netanyahu’s management of the Palestinian United Nations bid, Livni charged, the prime minister had “founded a Hamas state in Gaza and a Palestinian state in the UN, and now, with his reaction, he’s painting Israel internationally as the culprit.”
The Finance Ministry on Sunday announced that it would withhold NIS 450 million in tax revenues that were to be transferred to the Palestinian Authority and instead use the money to offset debts to Israel, in what is widely perceived as an additional punitive measure against the Palestinians.
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