JERUSALEM—In a scathing letter to three senior European Union officials, 40 members of Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, accused the European body of working against the Jewish state in connection with a leaked EU document showing how it is trying to illegally create territory for the creation of a Palestinian state.
The letter stated: “We have learned of an official European Union policy document, a document the gravity of which cannot be overstated, which leaves no room for doubt about the EU’s one-sidedness and animosity towards the State of Israel.” and the Jewish people The document completely ignores the historical affinity of our people with our homeland, completely ignores the political agreements and the status of the State of Israel in Area C and seeks to establish the 1949 borders as the permanent final state borders of Israel, in complete contempt for the Jewish communities in the area”.
Area C is located in the disputed territory of the West Bank, which many Israelis refer to by the region’s Biblical names Judea and Samaria. About 500,000 Israelis and about 300,000 Palestinians live in Area C, which makes up 60% of the total area of Judea and Samaria.
The Palestinians want Area C as part of an independent state, while various Israeli parties want the territory to be absorbed into Israel proper. The EU leaked document appeared before Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to form a new right-wing government.
Forty Israeli lawmakers accused the EU of taking territory from Israel to create a Palestinian state.
(Courtesy: Regavim)
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The Knesset members added that the document “exposes only the tip of the iceberg of the EU’s activities to undermine the State of Israel. We have not lost sight of its consistent and ongoing contribution, both direct and indirect, to campaigns designed to tarnish the power of Israel.” name, from blood libels about alleged violence by settlers, to unsubstantiated accusations that Israel deliberately harms children, to misleading comparisons of the policies of the government of the State of Israel with those of the apartheid regime in South Africa of yesteryear.” .
Israel’s Chanel 13 television station first broke the story last week about the leaked six-page document titled “European Joint Development Program for Area C.”
Peter Stano, the EU’s foreign and security policy spokesman, told Fox News Digital that the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, “does not appear to be among the recipients, so we can’t really comment on the background”. To do this, he will have to get in touch with the press teams of the three aforementioned presidents.”
Fox News Digital sent inquiries to the three officials, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel and European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, but received no response.
Some 40 Israeli lawmakers have said the leaked document is just the latest incident showing the EU is trying to undermine Israeli sovereignty.
(Photo courtesy: Regavim)
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Israeli media reported that the EU delegation in Israel said in a statement in response to the leaked document that “EU policies and positions are made up of 27 member states and are properly conveyed and communicated to both partners and Our policy towards the West Bank has not changed: the EU is united in its commitment to achieve a two-state solution with the State of Israel living side by side in peace, security and mutual recognition with an independent, democratic, contiguous and sovereign and viable State of Palestine, with Jerusalem as the future capital of both states”.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ambassador Emmanuel Nahshon, sent a statement to Fox News Digital, noting: “To our knowledge, this is an internal document of the European Union. It presents a number of positions that are unacceptable to Israel. , including in relation to Area C. Israel made this clear to the [European] Union in a series of contacts with their representatives at all levels”.
European Union flags fly in front of the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels on September 28, 2022.
(REUTERS/Yves Herman//File photo)
The Israeli Foreign Ministry statement added: “Since the drafting of the document, most likely in June 2022, Israel and the European Union held an Association Council meeting [a high-level meeting between Israel, the EU and neighboring countries] in October this year (for the first time in 12 years) and a political dialogue in which issues on the agenda in relations between Israel and the European Union were discussed.
“The leak of the EU document was not a surprise to us. We are satisfied with the Knesset’s response. For too many years, the Israeli government failed to respond to flagrant violations of Israel’s jurisdiction and international law,” said Naomi Linder Kahn, Director. of the international division of Regavim, an Israeli organization that describes itself as dedicated to the protection of Israel’s natural resources.
Israeli lawmakers condemned a recently leaked EU document that they say shows how the EU is illegally funding a Palestinian state.
(Photo courtesy: Regavim)
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She told Fox News Digital, “It’s obscene that they [the EU] condemns settlement activity. They are bringing the entire region into confrontation instead of encouraging the Palestinians to return to negotiations to settle things peacefully.”
While questions sent to the Palestinian Authority went unanswered, the Jerusalem Post recently reported that Palestinians fear the incoming right-wing government led by Netanyahu could try to annex all of Area C, which it said could lead to a third intifada.
The Jerusalem Post quoted a senior Palestinian official as saying that any move to annex Area C would lead to the cancellation of the Oslo Accords and other similar agreements between the parties.
Likud party leader and incoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to supporters as he visits the Hatikva market in Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday, October 28, 2022.
(AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
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Alex Traiman, a veteran Israeli commentator and Jerusalem bureau chief for the Jewish News Syndicate, told Fox News Digital: “The Palestinian Authority’s ongoing efforts to seize and hand out property in Area C, Israeli-administered territory in Judea and Samaria, in direct violation of the Oslo Accords, is one of the under-reported stories of recent years.”
He noted that “members of Israel’s incoming right-wing governing coalition, unlike their outgoing left-wing colleagues, will not stand idly by while the European Union undermines Israeli interests right under their noses. It is now clear that the allies Westerners of Israel in the European Union have been directly encouraging and financing these efforts.”
Fox News Digital contacted the Israeli government office responsible for the West Bank, the Unit for the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), for comment on the lawmakers’ letter and Regavim’s claims. A COGAT spokesperson told Fox News Digital that they are still investigating the issues raised.
