Europeans pressure Israel over West Bank settlements, citing 'unprecedented levels of violence'

In a rare show of diplomatic resolve, Israel's European allies raised their voices on the evening of Thursday, August 20, to defend one of their last red lines against West Bank settlement expansion, rejecting an Israeli government plan to accelerate construction in its so-called E1 area. A statement from the French presidency, co-signed by the leaders of Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Norway and the Netherlands and notable for its unusually strong tone, called Israel's decision to publish tenders for construction projects in this desert area at the eastern edge of Jerusalem "unacceptable." A small Bedouin community still lives there, struggling to hold on.

"The E1 settlement will undermine the prospect of the two-state solution by driving a wedge through the West Bank and harming the territorial contiguity of the Palestinian Territories," the European states said. They have been speaking against settlement in the strategic bottleneck, which links the northern and southern halves of the West Bank, since the 2010s.

In many respects, E1 stands as the last European line of defense in the West Bank, where Israel largely bars access to European diplomats. Over the past three years, settlers and the armed forces have destroyed infrastructure provided to Bedouin communities for access to water, electricity and schools, implementing a strategy of state-backed intimidation and driving the pastoral populations off more than 18% of the area, according to the latest figures from Israeli NGOs Peace Now and Kerem Navot.

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