The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, denounced this this Sunday Last Friday, Israel carried out its largest seizure of occupied territory There has been evidence of this since the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, a decision that has been “strongly condemned” as being in direct violation of international humanitarian law.
The announcement was made by one of the most extremist elements of the Israeli government, its Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who on Friday declared 800 hectares in the occupied territory of the West Bank, particularly in the north of the Jordan Valley, as “state lands”, with the intention of giving them to nearby to be incorporated into the Yafit settler settlement. Areas that Israel declares as “state land” are no longer considered private property of the Palestinians by the State of Israel and can be leased or sold to Israeli settlers.
“The European Union strongly condemns the announcement by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich that more than 800 hectares of land in the occupied Palestinian territories have been declared “state land.” “This is the largest seizure since the Oslo Accords.”Borrell said in his statement.
Borrell denounces that the Israeli settlements constitute a “serious violation of international humanitarian law”, as condemned by the leaders of the European Council this week, and recalls that the EU will not recognize any unilateral change to the borders established in 1967.
The EU’s top diplomatic official points out that the expansion of settlements “contradicts the objectives set by Brussels to help Israel and prevent a repeat of the terrible attacks on its civilian population on October 7th.” , understanding that these decisions only “inflame tensions.” “and harm the prospects for the ‘two-state solution’, one Palestinian and one Israeli, “the only sustainable guarantee of the long-term security” of both peoples.