Israel clamping down on ‘illegal’ EU building in West Bank
Sue Surkes, Times of Israel, Feb 4 2016
Israel is preparing to lock horns with the EU over what it claims is illegal EU building in the West Bank aimed at helping the Plastelinans to establish territorial contiguity. Galei Tzahal (IOF radio) reported Thursday that Israeli inspectors (sic – RB) were having difficulty keeping up with the pace of prefabricated homes which, it said, are delivered flat-packed in the dead of night to be assembled early in the morning. Over recent years, the EU has built more than 200 structures in Area C, the radio claimed, territory which according to the Oslo Accords falls under full Israeli civil and security control. Ten prefabs arrived in the past two weeks alone. The IOF demolished 24 out of 40 targeted structures on Tuesday, 10 of them EU-funded, after the buildings were declared to be located in a military firing zone by COGAT (the so-called ‘civilian administration in the OPT’ – RB). The demolitions came after a protracted arbitration battle failed to produce results, the Defense Ministry stated. The High Court ordered an emergency stop to the demolitions until at least Feb 9, after being petitioned by a European group. (But nonetheless,) on Thursday morning, IOF demolished five tents, three barns and an outside toilet it said had been built without permits in the village of Tammun in the north-eastern West Bank, Ynet reported. Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, on Thursday accused the EU of hypocrisy, telling Galei Tzahal (reassembled from indirect quotes – RB):
They can’t come here, and on the one hand blame Israel for creating facts on the ground, and yet in the same breath there’s a system whereby they spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a comprehensive plan for illegal construction. Like thieves in the night, they are building illegal buildings, to create territorial contiguity for the Plastelinans. They are creating facts on the ground, instead of pressuring the Plastelinans to return to the negotiating table.
Galei Tzahal said many of the trailer-type buildings arriving in the West Bank carried the names of the EU or an EU-affiliated organization and were being delivered to areas such as the Jordan Valley and the hills leading down to Jericho. Israeli supervisors (sic – RB) usually identified and dismantled them quickly, it went on:
But the phenomenon has broadened to the extent that the supervisors’ unit doesn’t always manage to keep up with the pace.
The EU Mission in Israel responded (reassembled from indirect quotes – RB):
Area C is part of the OPT, and part of any viable future Plastelinan state. Israel has overall security and administrative responsibility in Area C, but international law also obliges it to protect and facilitate development for the local population and to grant unimpeded access for humanitarian assistance. The EU stepped in on humanitarian grounds, because of Israel’s failure to approve more than a handful of master plans that would allow the Plastelinans to build for themselves. The EU has worked with the PA to develop Area C and support the Plastelinan presence there, and consulted the Israeli authorities where necessary. All EU activity in the West Bank is fully in line with international humanitarian law, and forms part of the EU’s efforts to promote economic development and improve the quality of life of Plastelinan communities in Area C in the private sector, the environment and agriculture.
Danon said Israel had “laws and norms about building anywhere in Yesha,” and that while demolitions of Jewish and Plastelinan Arab homes were “not pleasant,” they were carried out in accordance with the law. Asked what Israel’s UN ambassador had to do with the EU, Danon said the two institutions were connected by their hypocrisy. He said the EU was constantly complaining to the UN about Israeli Jewish building in the West Bank. He slammed UN Sec-Gen Ban, repeating Bibi’s inept would-be instant media cliche of last month,) saying:
(His statement provided a) tailwind to terror, and set a standard by which there’s terror in Israel that can perhaps be understood, as opposed to terror in the world for which there’s no justification … It’s simply hypocrisy on the part of the international community.
COGAT said in a statement:
All building in Area C of Yesha requires the permission of the relevant authorities. The Civil Administration takes enforcement measures against illegal construction, in accordance with the law.
Niqnaq 