Illegal EU settlement
Illegal EU settlementRegavim

After exposing last month how the European Union (EU) is breaching international law by actively building illegal structures for the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Area C of Judea and Samaria, the Regavim organization has released footage from a research drone that was nearly downed while documenting the illegal buildings.

The drone was conducting a routine surveillance mission over an illegal EU settlement to the east of Jerusalem, documenting continued illegal building without coordination with Israel despite the fact that Area C, under the 1993 Oslo Accords - which the EU signed onto - is designated as being under full Israeli control.

From the buildings which clearly bear an EU flag symbol on their outside walls, a group of illegal Arab settler children hurled rocks at the drone and nearly downed it, before the field researcher operating the machine managed to dodge the rocks and climb to a safer altitude.

"We use drones to monitor the ongoing illegal activities across the country, without having to go into villages themselves. These machine are extremely effective, but costly; this near miss could have cost the organization thousands of dollars," said Ari Briggs, International Director of Regavim.

Briggs added "although we will not be deterred by this attack against our equipment we may now have to purchase a more advanced drone that can take close-up footage much higher-up in the sky and out of projectile range."

Since the Regavim report on the EU's new policy of unilateral building for the PA in Area C to create a de facto Palestinian state in Israel's Biblical heartland was released, it has been presented to the European Parliament by several concerned MEPs and is awaiting a hearing in the Foreign Policy Committee.

The revelation of the EU illegal building has led to charges of "colonialism", given the open way the EU has flaunted international law, even while it charges Israel with "illegal settlements," ignoring the 2012 Levy Report that showed the settlements are legal under international law.