Four EU nations to condemn latest Israel settlements

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, PARIS - Germany and the three other West European members of the UN Security Council are preparing a statement condemning Israel's latest settlement plans in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, two European diplomatic officials said Tuesday.

Permanent council members Britain and France plus Germany and Portugal — who are wrapping up two-year terms — are concerned that such settlements could threaten a possible two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, the officials said. Details of the statement are being finalized in New York, the diplomats said on condition of anonymity because the work was not yet completed.

The two officials said the statement of condemnation will be presented to council members, but the European countries are not seeking to have it approved as an official statement by the council or as a resolution — most likely because of near-certain opposition by the United States, Israel's closest ally.

The European statement is likely to be issued on Wednesday, said a UN diplomat in New York, speaking on condition of anonymity because negotiations have been private. The statement by key European countries on the UN's most powerful body would be a symbolic, but nonetheless high-profile show of displeasure with the Israelis.

The European Union, Israel's biggest trading partner, has been increasingly vocal in its criticism of new settlements just as Israel is gearing up for general elections next month. In an unprecedented move, a string of European governments summoned their local Israeli ambassadors to lodge protests following the Israeli settlement announcements.

While British Foreign Secretary William Hague on Tuesday called all Israeli settlements "illegal under international law." He urged Israel to reverse its latest expansion plan in east Jerusalem, warning that if implemented "it would make a negotiated two-state solution, with Jerusalem as a shared capital, very difficult to achieve."

Israeli settlement

The move stems from a string of recent Israeli settlement announcements, the diplomats said, including one on Monday in which Israel said it will push forward with plans to build 1,500 apartments in east Jerusalem, the Palestinians' hoped-for capital. While Israeli officials said they would press on with plans this week to build 6,000 homes for settlers on land claimed by Palestinians, defying criticism from Western powers who fear the move will hit already faint hopes for a peace accord.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been unshaken by the criticism, and on Tuesday he vowed to continue building in east Jerusalem. "Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the state of Israel, and we will continue to build there. A united Jerusalem expresses a wide national agreement," he said in the northern Israeli town of Acre.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor declined to comment on the reported European initiative in the Security Council, since nothing formal has been proposed. But Palmor said the idea of taking action at the United Nations only lowers the chances of renewing peace talks, and he insisted the only way to advance negotiations is "to weigh on the Palestinians and convince them to return to the negotiating table."

"Fiddling with UN resolutions will take us the opposite way," he added. "So it's their choice to make, a step forward or two steps backward."