Illegal EU structure
Illegal EU structureYaniv Aharoni

In the wake of revelations earlier this month as to the extent of the European Union’s involvement in promoting illegal Arab construction in Judea and Samaria, the Knesset’s Land of Israel Lobby issued a sharp condemnation of the EU, demanding it respect Israeli law.

The lobby, which includes 20 MKs from the Likud, Jewish Home, Yisrael Beytenu, United Torah Judaism, and Kulanu parties, sent a letter to the European Union Ambassador to Israel, Lars Faaborg-Andersen, rejecting EU protests against Israeli demolitions of illegal Arab buildings.

Lobby chairmen Yoav Kish (Likud) and Bezalel Smotrich (Jewish Home) demanded the EU halt its support for illegal Arab construction, calling the body’s actions an illegitimate attempt to forcibly create borders in Judea and Samaria without negotiations, in violation of the very principles the EU has promoted in backing a negotiated settlement.

“No government entity in the world has the right to construct buildings illegally in territory under the legal control of another country,” the letter reads.

“So long as the EU wants to be thought of as an honest broker in regards to conflicts in our area, it cannot participant in attempts to forcibly and unilaterally delineate borders without negotiations. That’s both the goal and end result of the illegal building project that you are advancing in area C”.

The lobby praised Israel for beginning to confront the phenomenon of coordinated construction of illegal structures in Judea and Samaria, and demanded that the EU itself demolish any illegal structures it funded.