Israel seizing West Bank land over European nations' recognition of Palestine, says EU's Borrell

By Zehra Nur Duz

ANKARA (AA) — Israel continues to seize land in the occupied West Bank in response to some European countries' decisions to recognize the state of Palestine, the EU's foreign policy chief said on Wednesday.

"Inside EU, we have different views from member states (on recognition of Palestinian statehood). This is a political decision. They will push for the two-state solution. This is a confirmation of our will to get this goal, so let's do it now," Josep Borrell told Saudi broadcaster Al Arabiya English in an exclusive interview.

"Some countries believe it is not the moment to recognize Palestine as a state. It can maybe be even counterproductive. It can trigger reaction from the Israeli government, as it happened," Borrell added.

He said Israeli forces seized pieces of land and outposts in the occupied West Bank, adding that Tel Aviv justified these acts by saying: "We will take one outpost for every country who recognizes the Palestinian Authority, which certainly has nothing to do with the decisions, goes against the interests of the Palestinian people and the international law."

Borrell urged the Israeli government to "rewind this kind of attitude," noting that the West Bank is a territory under military occupation, according to international law.

Palestine on Wednesday condemned Israel's confiscation of 441 dunams (44.1 hectares) of Palestinian land west of Ramallah in the West Bank.

"We condemn the rapidly accelerating racist colonial policies of Israel to seize thousands of dunams of Palestinian land," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

On Tuesday, the local Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission said that the Israeli army had seized 441 dunums of land in the villages of Shabtin, Deir Ammar, and Deir Qaddis.

It accused the Israeli army of seeking to seize all lands surrounding the illegal Israeli settlements of Nili and Naale, which are built on Palestinian land.

A leaked audio revealed that last month, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich spoke about preventing the occupied West Bank from becoming part of an independent Palestinian state and strengthening Israeli control over it.

Despite continued international criticism of illegal Israeli settlement construction on Palestinian lands, Tel Aviv has taken several steps in recent months to accelerate settlement activity across the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Under international law, all Jewish settlements in the occupied territories are considered illegal.