MEPs call on EU to end trade with Israeli settlements
In Cyprus, MEP Fidias Panayiotou became one of more than 100 members of the European Parliament who signed a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen demanding that the European Union end trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank. This was reported by Cyprus Mail.
In the letter, the MEPs called on the European Commission to introduce a legislative proposal to ban EU trade with settlements, which the authors of the appeal described as illegal. They noted that the United Kingdom and Canada had already adopted relevant laws, while France had committed to acting similarly. In the signatories' view, a common and consistent decision at EU level is needed.
Reference to international law
The letter's authors stressed that Article 3 of the Treaty on European Union requires compliance with international law in the bloc's external activities. They said that raising tariffs or strengthening the existing differentiation policy does not meet the obligations that, according to them, stem from the position of the International Court of Justice.
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The appeal also mentioned an Israeli government tender for the E1 settlement, published on August 18. This area is located between East Jerusalem and the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho. The letter states that development in E1 could create a continuous block of Israeli housing from Jerusalem to the Jordan River and effectively divide the West Bank into two parts.
Reactions from Britain and Israel
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that implementing the E1 project would bury the idea of a Palestinian state. Last week, the UK government called the situation a moral emergency and announced its intention to ban imports of goods from illegal settlements, as well as take action against individuals and companies that support, facilitate, or profit from settlement activity.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog called the British government's decision a serious miscalculation, interference in the democratic elections of a sovereign state, and a step that, he said, would end up on the wrong side of history.
