Opinion Editorials, January 2012

Window for Palestinian State “Rapidly Closing” – European Union Report

By Nureddin Sabir

Al-Jazeerah, CCUN, January 18, 2012

A European Union study (a copy of which is also available here) says that expanding Israeli settlement in the West Bank and limits imposed on Palestinian movement and building are eroding the chances of a Palestinian state.

The study calls on EU states "in coordination with other international actors" to "systematically voice objections" to measures to evict Palestinians from areas under Israeli control.

The 16-page internal study by EU heads of mission in Jerusalem and Ramallah focuses on the Israeli-run Area C, which makes up 62 per cent of the occupied West Bank.

"Area C comprises crucial natural resources and land for the future demographic and economic growth of a viable Palestinian state," the study says.

A 1995 interim accord between Israel and the Palestinians divides the West Bank into Area A (under full Palestinian control), Area B (under shared Israeli-Palestinian control) and Area C.

Area C includes the border with Jordan which Israel insists must remain under its military control in any agreement with the Palestinians.

The study says that Area C is a vital component in a future Palestinian state based on the borders which predated Israel's occupation in the 1967 war.

"If current trends are not stopped and reversed, the establishment of a viable Palestinian state within the pre-1967 borders seems more remote than ever," it says.

"The window for a two-state solution is rapidly closing with the continued expansion of Israeli settlements and access restrictions for Palestinians in Area C," the study adds.

The study, entitled "Area C and Palestinian State Building", is dated July 2011 but has been kept confidential until now.

According to the French news agency AFP, the study “follows an unprecedented report by EU ambassadors in Israel made public last month which voiced concern about the Jewish state's treatment of its Arab minority, and looks likely to place further strain on EU-Israel relations which have been frosty of late”.

In a written statement to AFP, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton's spokesperson, Maja Kocijancic, said that the study “is intended to serve as a source of information for the European Union and as an input to its policy-making process”.

http://www.redress.cc/palestine/nsabir20120115

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