Portugal urges EU to pressure Israel over settlement expansion

Portugal sent a letter to its European Union partners on Monday urging them to pressure Israel into refraining from further expansion of its West Bank settlements.

Portuguese Foreign Minister Luis Amado said the letter to his EU counterparts demands they draft a strong message to Israel during their meeting next week.

According to Amado, the Palestinian Authority has shown willingness to abide by commitments it made at the November 2007 peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, Amadado said. However, he added, Israel has made no relevant progress on critical issues such as settlements.

Israel is under increased pressure from the United States over settlement construction. In the past month, since Barack Obama was sworn in as U.S. president, Israel has received four official complaints from members of the new administration regarding various issues linked to West Bank settlements.

A senior government official in Jerusalem told Haaretz earlier this month month that the complaints represent a gradual increase in American pressure vis-a-vis settlement activity. "This is going to be one of the main issues that the Obama administration will be dealing with in the coming weeks and months," the official said. "It is not going to be easy to argue with them."

The American complaints were relayed to Jerusalem via senior officials in the State Department as well as the National Security Council, which seek clarifications and explanations from Israel.

The four separate complaints relate to the demolition of Palestinian-owned homes in East Jerusalem, reports of Israeli plans to construct additional housing in the E1 area, between Maaleh Adumim and Jerusalem, the relocation of the illegal outpost at Migron to a new, as-yet unbuilt neighborhood of the Adam settlement and to plans to build thousands of new residential units in the settlement of Efrat.