BICOM

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said yesterday that European members of the UN Security Council must observe the parameters of the Quartet plan and refrain from actions that contradict its wording. The communiqué came a day after Britain, France, Germany and Portugal called on Israelis and Palestinians to present proposals on territory and security to the Quartet. Their statement, made at the UN, also criticised Israeli settlement construction and settler violence. Israel argues that calling on the two sides to present final status proposals to a third party contradicts the Quartet statement of 23 September, which called for direct talks.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry also rejected European interference in “Israel’s domestic affairs,” in an apparent reference to the European condemnation of settler violence. The European statement conflated settlement construction and settler violence as damaging to the peace process. This is despite the fact that settler violence has been carried out by only a small number of extremists, and has been widely condemned by Israeli leaders. The European statement welcomed a package of measures announced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in response to settler violence as going, ‘in the right direction’, and called for an ‘end to impunity.’

In response, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said that the EU members on the Security Council were not contributing to the stability of the Middle East and were investing their time in issues that an independent law system can deal with. “They are losing their credibility and making themselves irrelevant,” the Foreign Ministry statement said.