Fidias Panayiotou joins call for EU ban on trade with West Bank settlements

Brussels, Belgium. Fidias Panayiotou was among more than 100 members of the European Parliament who signed a letter on Tuesday calling on European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to end all European Union trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

The signatories urged the Commission to submit legislation banning EU trade with what they described as Israel’s illegal settlements in occupied territories.

Call for EU-wide action

The letter said the United Kingdom and Canada had already passed laws to prohibit such trade, while the European Union had yet to do so.

It said the EU has long presented itself as a key supporter of a two-state solution, while the UK and Canada had committed to supporting that objective through settlement trade bans.

The letter added that France had committed to take similar action, joining other EU member states which have adopted or are considering national trade bans. It said coordinated EU action was therefore needed.

Reference to E1 settlement plans

The signatories referred to a joint statement by French President Emmanuel Macron and British and Canadian Prime Ministers Andy Burnham and Mark Carney, which said a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was critical for peace, sustainability and security in the Middle East and beyond.

They said the EU should stand with allies committed to international rule of law, adding that the urgency had increased after the Israeli government published a tender for the E1 settlement on August 18.

The letter said the tender breached a long-standing EU red line.

Settlement area

The planned E1 settlement would be located between eastern Jerusalem and the Israeli settlement of Ma’ale Adumim, on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho. Bedouin tribes were expelled from the area following the six-day war of 1967.

If built, the settlement would create a continuous block of Israeli housing from Jerusalem to the River Jordan, splitting the West Bank into two and preventing the establishment of a contiguous Palestinian state without the displacement of Israelis.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the move would “bury the idea of a Palestinian state”.