EU on verge of abandoning hope for a viable Palestinian state

Having just returned from Jerusalem it was quite evident both in discourse and geography that the option for a two state solution in Israel-Palastine is withering in a searing reality.





The Independent article last Thursday reveals the hardening polemic in the region, singularly the expansionist settler communities supported by Israel whose sizeable and growing population in the Palestinian West Bank is a producing this reductive political shift. From two options with two states to one option and one state.

I wrote about my experiences here.

Journalists, civil society leaders, Palestinians and Palestinian leaders, British diplomats all seemed to share the view that appears to be emanating from the EU. The controversial E1 development would be seen as the final nail in the coffin of any two state solution.

I am pleased that the EU has once again shown leadership. The Independent article begins;

The Palestinian presence in the largest part of the occupied West Bank – has been, "continuously undermined" by Israel in ways that are "closing the window" on a two-state solution, according to an internal EU report seen by The Independent. 

The report, approved by top Brussels officials, argues that EU support, including for a wide range of building projects, is now needed to protect the rights of "ever more isolated" Palestinians in "Area C", a sector that includes all 124 Jewish settlements – illegal in international law – and which is under direct Israeli control. It comprises 62 per cent of the West Bank, including the "most fertile and resource rich land". 

With the number of Jewish settlers now at more than double the shrinking Palestinian population in the largely rural area, the report warns bluntly that, "if current trends are not stopped and reversed, the establishment of a viable Palestinian state within pre-1967 borders seem more remote than ever". 

The 16-page document is the EU's starkest critique yet of how a combination of house and farm building demolitions; a prohibitive planning regime; relentless settlement expansion; the military's separation barrier; obstacles to free movement; and denial of access to vital natural resources, including land and water, is eroding Palestinian tenure of the large tract of the West Bank on which hopes of a contiguous Palestinian state depend.
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