EU Voices Deep Concern Over Israeli Settlement Expansion Plans in the West Bank

Gaza: The European Union expressed deep concern over the current Israeli government's plans to allocate massive and unprecedented funds to support settlement expansion in the heart of the West Bank. In an official statement, the EU said that the steps would inevitably entrench the settlement presence in areas described as highly sensitive from a geopolitical perspective, thus jeopardizing any future prospects for peace. According to Palestine News and Information Agency - WAFA, the Israeli occupation authorities had previously revealed a budget of approximately $2.8 billion, aimed directly at constructing thousands of new housing units and developing settlement infrastructure. The moves are part of a comprehensive framework agreement that seeks to alter the demographic and geographic reality in the occupied Palestinian territories by adding 12,000 new settlement units. In a related development, the European Union announced its categorical rejection of the decision to transform the settlement of Givat Ze'ev, built on Palestinian land northwest of Jerusalem, into an official Israeli municipality. The EU reiterated its non-recognition of any Israeli sovereignty over the territories occupied in 1967, emphasizing that these measures violate UN Security Council resolutions and international law. For its part, the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission warned of new colonial plans aimed at seizing more than 1,000 dunams of Palestinian land to construct over 1,000 settlement units. The Commission affirmed that Israeli authorities have recently discussed several plans that have already entered the implementation phase through approval and deposit procedures.