The European Commission has criticized Israel over its settlement policy, which according to the European executive makes the Palestinian government more dependent on foreign aid. In an unusually harsh statement, the statement from the office of the European commissioner for external relations, Benita Ferrero-Walder, said that it was “the European taxpayers who pay most of the price of this dependence."
The Commission claims that expropriation of fertile land for Israeli settlements, roads that serve only Jewish settlers, and checkpoints in the West Bank help constrain Palestinian economic growth. The European Union is one of the largest donors to the Palestinian Authority and this year alone has paid more than $280 million to help cover the Palestinian Authority’s budget deficit.
Meanwhile, Jerusalem said it would not bow to international pressure to halt settlement activity in the West Bank, a minister from the governing Likud party said on Sunday. "The prime minister made it clear in our meeting that there are no understandings and no commitments on the issue of a freeze of construction in the West Bank, not even a temporary one," Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein told the news agency AFP, adding: "We must not reach such a situation"
On Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and US Middle East envoy George Mitchell were scheduled to meet in London to discuss the settlement issue.
