The EU's secret Palestinian building plan for Area C

(JNS) — The European Union’s secret Palestinian building plan for Area C of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) disqualifies Europe as a fair and professional mediating body in the Middle East conflict, as determined by the 1995 Oslo Interim Accords.

The E.U. plan to help the Palestinian Authority build in Area C is an egregious violation of the Oslo Accords and an abrogation of the European Union’s mediation role as witness guarantors of signed agreements. Its actions in unilaterally advancing a Palestinian state in Area C represent a violation of international law and call into question the Europe’s ability to continue serve in any capacity as diplomatic interlocutor in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

The E.U.’s unpublished policy plan also violates Israel’s legal rights as affirmed by the European Union at Oslo, and reveals a pro-PLO bias that renders the European Union a de facto supporter of the official P.A. policy of allocating payments to Palestinian terrorists who were killed, captured, or imprisoned as a result of their terrorist activity. Israel and the international community bear a responsibility to reveal the European Union’s gross violations of its diplomatic responsibilities and those of Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, as well as European Commission President Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen.

This latest revelation is only the most recent example of E.U. malfeasance. Ambassador Alan Baker, former legal adviser to Israel’s Foreign Ministry, pointed out in a July 2022 policy brief for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs that E.U. member states had restored funding to six Palestinian civil society organizations designated by Israel as terror-supporting organizations, rejecting evidence submitted by Israel that these organizations are linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, an E.U.-, U.S.- and Israel-designated terror group.

As Baker notes, contrary to its special status as witness, sponsor and facilitator of the Oslo Accords, the European Union and specifically Norway have consistently conducted a one-sided, partisan policy aimed at prejudging issues to be negotiated between the parties, such as Jerusalem and the permanent status of the territories.

Baker added that “Facilitating international funding to support and encourage Palestinian terror, including providing funds for salaries and benefits of terrorists serving prison sentences, is the antithesis of any genuine international action to promote human rights, peace, and stability in the Middle East.”

Dan Diker is director of the Political Warfare Project at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. A former secretary general of the World Jewish Congress, he is also a Research Fellow at the International Institute for Counter Terrorism at IDC, Herzliya.

This article was first published by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.