European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas urged Israel to abandon its settlement plans in the E1 area of the occupied West Bank, warning that the move would violate international law and permanently damage the prospects for a two-state solution.
"If implemented, settlement construction in the area would permanently sever the geographical and territorial link between occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank and sever the link between the northern and southern West Bank," Kallas said in a statement.
Kallas said Israel's settlement policies, including demolitions, forced transfers, evictions, and home confiscations, must end. He also said that these actions, along with settler violence and Israeli military operations, only fuel tensions and erode prospects for peace.
The EU "urges Israel not to take this decision, given its far-reaching implications and the need to consider measures to safeguard the viability of the two-state solution," Kallas said.
Area E1, a strip of land east of Jerusalem located between Jerusalem and the Ma'ale Adumim settlement, is highly controversial because development there would effectively separate East Jerusalem from the northern West Bank. Plans for development in E1 have been frozen for years, largely due to international opposition.
