EU Foreign Ministers: Israel's settlement building is 'particularly' worrying
In a joint statement, ministers also welcome efforts by Jordan to restart negotiations; EU top diplomat Ashton to travel to Mideast Tuesday.
By DPA Tags: Israel settlements EUIsrael's continued settlement building on occupied Palestinian land last year was "particularly" worrying, European Union foreign ministers said Monday.
"Against the backdrop of worrying developments on the ground in 2011, particularly with regards to settlements, the EU reaffirms its commitment to a two-state solution," ministers said in a joint statement after a meeting in Brussels.
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Illegal construction in the Neveh Shoham neighborhood of the Eli settlement in the West Bank. |
| Photo by: Motti Milrod |
Palestinians have refused to re-engage in peace talks with the Israelis over their refusal to stop building over the West Bank. But this month, the two sides entered into Jordan-brokered talks about a resumption of direct peace talks.
Ministers said the EU "welcomes the efforts by Jordan" and urged the Palestinians and the Israelis "to come forward with comprehensive proposals on borders and security" as called for by the Quartet - the international panel comprising the EU, the United States, the United Nations and Russia.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said she would travel to the Middle East and meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Liebermann from the Israeli side, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.
Her visit, from Tuesday to Thursday, will also include a stop in the Gaza Strip, EU officials told DPA.
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Hellooooooo EU what about the occupation of Tibet by China Falkland Islands by the British ......How stupid of me you dont start with China and England Israel no problem they easy to bully .
Iran have been sanctioned some 20 times by EU, Israel get no sanctions.
It's gonna be 'ad eternum' worrying i think and nothing else but... worrying.
Last time the EU condemned the settlements, Israel declared the whole EU as 'irrelevant'. As there was no reaction to that from any EU foreign minister, it seems more like a joke that they once again come up with exactly the same wording, calling the settlements "worrying developments".
again, good luck with the path israel is choosing in this matter...so long as the big guy is backing you up you have no real worries.
They need to put their thumb down, and free themselves from being America's poodle.
europe is penalising itself by going along with the iranian oil embargo just for the privilege of israeli interests. but israel is, and remains the usual bad boy. indifferent and insolent. they take, and they keep taking, and they keep complaining, but they never want to allow peace to make any progress. their intention is to take the whole land, with many cunning and cheating ways and schemes, while eurpe and the US make fools of themselves. besides, it must be a true nightmare for the palestinians to have for neighbours such a provocative and aggressive people. with endless and constant controls, endless arrests and the ever present threat of being hit by israeli attacks. if hamas is a terrorist organisation, israel isn't any less
The editorial is equally boring. Try to think of something new! Remember the old adage? "Dog bites man is not news; Man bites dog is news.." Remember: the anti-Zionist and anti-SAemitic readership of your internet English news may cheer you on, but here in Israel you are losing subscribers. Doyou want to sell newspapers or not?
Sooner or later a heavy price will be evoked from all of us.
Oh yes praise the Jordanians for offering the tables to a discussion that the Palestinians refuse to discuss in realistic terms. They tell Israel we will only talk when 1. settlements are frozen 2. Accept the 67 borders 3. End Israel by flooding your country with arab refugees that are mostly just Jordanian and Lebanese impovershed so there is no more jewish majority. The EU ignores that the insanity in these preconditions stand and then looks at Israels unwillingness to abide by them. Why should Israel force it's own people out of their homes that is in accordance to the UN rule from Oslo in Israeli territory just to fufill one of the crazy preconditions of the palestinians which includes ending Israel?
How come the EU are not bothered with the occupation of the Falkland islands by the British
We thank the wonderful Arabs for helping us build the homes in Yehudah and Shomron!! Yes the PA Arabs are building our homes in Beitar, Efrat, Elazar, Kiryat Arba, Eili, Beit El, Alon Shvut, Nvei daniel, Ofra, Shilo
years!!! We all remember where the Europeans sent the Jews one generation ago. We will build and have large families and make aliya and live for many years is all the beutiful towns in the WB - Yehuda and Shomron!!
The Arabs turned down peace in 47, 67 and 2000 and started a war - If you start a war and you lose it you pay a price. If they want a state they better come to the table and accept a lot less than the 67 borders. Israel can never go back to the 67 borders. 600,000 Israelis live beyond the green line. Israel can barely move a few families from Migron so we're not giving the arabs Ariel, Beitar or kiryat arba!!!!
The EU is on fire and millions live in slavery and suffer from starvation in Africa. Rockets rain daily into Israel from gaza, yet the most worrisome thing for the EU is Jews building homes. Lol.
no doubt they also know about cyprus, the basque country , ireland , kurdistan tibet and all of africa but somehow they ignore the real world !!
Egad, why not just say: "Stop, desist and dismantle the settlements for they are illegal." Than maybe there will be some action.
branches and bear your fruit FOR MY PEOPLE, for they will soon come. For Behold, I am for you and I will turn to you, and you will be cultivated and sewn. I will multiply men on you, all the House of Israel, all of it. And the cities will be inhabited and the waste places will be rebuilt. " Hear the word of the Lord all you vipers !
population and prosperity. There must be room for millions more Jews in Israel until the land is overflowing. Like it or not, this land is our land. God gave this land to us to inhabit forever ! Our ancient fathers lived here; we live here and our children's children will live here .
show us the legal document with your imaginary sky pilots signatures on it to give tio you..actually the UN gave it you and yet you will call them irrevelent when they call on you's to do the legal right thing...you are gonna get what you deserve soon and I will laugh
Your overwhelming greed will consume you.
'Don't do onto others what is hateful to yourself' Rabbi Hillel.
Are you sure? You got your blond hair and blue eyes from your ancient mothers then?
For starters, there is no such thing as "Judea and Samaria." There is only the West Bank. Second, there is no such thing as "God," either. Finally, you need to be sanctioned and/or brought before the Hague for numerous violations of international law.
claims are laughable. End the occupation, make peace with the palestinians and your neighbors, and share the land. Peace is the solution.
A one State solution will see an end to your racist agenda. Whatcha gonna do then when you have alienated yourselves totally from the civilised world.
They lived there more than you and your ancient fathers put together
There are 3 million palestinians in the WB, another 1.5 in Gaza, another 3.5 refugees and another few hundreds of thousands from the diaspora. What are you going to do about them ? Israel is responsible. So ? please don't serve your lousy 'God' argumentations. This land is not YOUR land and you know it.
Zoom out and out of the few hill tops of construction in question and the housing area they cover in relation to the whole middle east is absolutely miniscule, yet so very demanding of international attention and involvement. Abbas finally had the courage recently to announce his assessment that the Palestinians made a grave mistake back in 1947-48 by not accepting the proposed borders for a Jewish and Arab State. No other Arab-Islamists cared to publicly acknowledge this rare truth in what Abbas declared in desperation at the time but they all know this to be so true and yet they remain so intractable in all their impossible demands that Israel return to its more vulnerable position so their poorly disguised violence and covetousness can gamble for it with force yet again. What will Israel do in the vacuum of no serious and comprehensive unity amongst the Palestinians for real peace talks? She will build where others failed to do so for centuries.
israel is not willing to turn back to any previous situation be it the 1940s or 1960s. as a at least in part modern western society it will not wait for the palestinians and other arabs to narrow the gap in developement.
this is really good news. I sit on this side of the pond ALWAYS pissed off at Israel. MY american brothers, sisters, fathers, etc. die every day because of CRAP your leaders pull. PLEASE CHANGE YOUR LEADERSHIP.
The most worrying issues is Iranium Nukes. The EU should first finish the job on Iran, and the settlement issue will take care of itself. Did they not read in the news that abbas and Meshal are headed to gaza to gether in few days, with such initiatives, Israel should never lose one aiota of sleep regarding settlements. They need to build up before the terror enterprise solidify together.
listen my friend. You can repeat a million times the same argument, there are 22 arab countries indeed, it won't change anything. Palestinians beling to Palestine. Now if you want to talk about 'origins' you might as well ask those who arrive in Israel to be welcomed back in their original countries....US, Europe, Russia....don't they have double nationality ? how convenient don't you think ? that will solve the problem don't you think ? keep the hard work Ahmed and keep hoping. Palestinians will not move. Fhemt ? i assume you speak arabic....
A displaced Palestinian from lydd, I will be back and so will my children
right, but not for at least 20 lifetimes
How can there be a two state peace agreement between Israel and the PalArabs if Hamas/Gaza is not involved in the discussion and does not agree to accept Israel as a Jewish democracy and further agrees to no longer attack and harass Israel. That is highly unlikely so how can Israel be criticized for not being enthusiastic about peace negotitions that cannot go anywhere. I repeat, how stupid can you all be including Haaretz for ignoring this issue.
Have you no clue, the WB/Gaza political divide was created by Israel? Certainly, it is an inconvenience that WB wants to offer no excuses, while Gaza says fight on. But ultimately, it's all a ruse to prevent successful peace negotiations. We all await an Israeli government serious about peace, not just about talking about peace. C'mon, Bibi!
yet you twist facts to make u sound like ur th eones suffering. when do u recognise the pals as a people all i hear is jews saying they are an invented people, even the bible and the torah and have recognized th epals i guess you refuse Gods words this is why he had banished you from those lands in the first place. lets see if i get posted this time, its ok to bash the arbs but not ok to bash the jews by telling th etruth.
Israel has set so many bad examples that there is hardly anthing they can criticize anyone for that they themselves have not already done worse.
The Foreign ministers of the EU said that settlements are "particularly worrying" but on Jan 16th Nick Clegg the Deputy PM of the UK said they are "deliberate vandalism". The world known that the settlements are a horrible insult to the intelligence of all rational people.
a nuclear-armed Iran. Those who are knowledgeable suggest that Mutually Assured Destruction may not apply. That's the existential issue for all concerned, not settlements.
another drinking to much of the koolade...those who are knowledgable understnd the crap thatis being spewed. i have to wonder when the islries will set off the nuke they stole in the USA. you rember the one that was under the control of the zionist controlled war machine? we all know it will go off and when it does isrl will blame th eiranians. its their motto.
Stop mouthing off tired Zionist propaganda and face the facts
They have widened the gap so the Palestinians cannot even approach peace without demanding a large concession from Israel, to remove most or all non-seamline settlements and exchange land for the rest. Meanwhile, U.S. and Israel say nothing will work but talks, and why not build and disposess like crazy until those talks end. There's a strategy at work here, and it's reprehensible.
now
The settlement issue will not go away, but Israel has had good success in stonewalling and sharp retorts. In fact, Israel has this in common with Iran lately. Who would have guessed?
Wake me up when they decide to actually DO something about the situation, like impose sanctions on Israel.
What convinces Israel is actions, not statements. The EU has major influence on Israel due to trade relations.Either you use this in actual threats, or you remain viewed as "nudniks" by Israel.
What sacrifices are the arabs bringing on the table. With 22 islamic nations, can't they get just a small portion to settled their fellow arabs who they themselves made to become refugees...? Or are they playing cache 22..?
And how does it stand in relation to criminal?
..... that the Europeans aren't accepting Bibi's excuses any more. They know who's dragging his feet, and it ain't Abbas.
give it up jb and stop taking the tablets they arent helping