Officials in Israel expressed outrage on Monday evening after the European Union (EU) passed a resolution stipulating that agreements with Israel will no longer apply to any areas over the 1949 Armistice borders.
Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely responded to the decision and said, "The Europeans continue to act unilaterally with regards to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict".
"This resolution achieves the opposite from what they sought to achieve. These types of declarations only push actual dialogue further away and give a boost to the Palestinians to continue their efforts to condemn Israel in the international arena and to continue the relentless incitement to killing Israeli civilians," she added.
The Foreign Ministry issued an official statement following the passing of the resolution, in which it noted that "following the political and diplomatic efforts of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and the Foreign Ministry, the EU softened its decision."
"At the same time," said the ministry, "the EU continues to act with a double standard when it comes to Israel, while ignoring the responsibility of the Palestinians for the political deadlock and for the incitement that feeds the wave of Palestinian terrorism. Out of 200 border disputes around the world, the EU chooses to discriminate only against Israel. This approach prevents the EU from being a fair player in the settlement of the conflict."
Yesh Atid chairman MK Yair Lapid condemned the resolution and said, "The statement published today by the foreign ministers of the European Union continues a troubling approach that seeks to intervene in Israel's sovereignty."
"The statement tries to establish future borders and create a reality on the ground, and holds back the chances for an agreement of separation between Israel and the Palestinians," added Lapid.
The resolution which passed on Monday states, "The EU expresses its commitment to ensure that - in line with international law - all agreements between the State of Israel and the EU must unequivocally and explicitly indicate their inapplicability to territories occupied by Israel in 1967."
"This does not constitute a boycott of Israel which the EU strongly opposes," it adds.
The move came several hours after reports of friction between foreign ministers over the harsh wording of the resolution, which some countries found to be overly critical of the Jewish state.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu along with several top Foreign Ministry officials spoke with leaders and foreign ministers in Europe on Sunday in an effort to block the vote.
The EU resolution concludes that "settlements are illegal under international law, constitute an obstacle to peace and threaten to make a two-state solution impossible."
It thus urges Israel "to end all settlement activity and to dismantle the outposts erected since March 2001, in line with prior obligations."