Borrell: Deteriorating situation in West Bank ‘unsustainable’

Brussels – The European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, stressed that the deteriorating situation in the West Bank is “unbearable,” amid Israeli calls to “destroy mosques and build a Jewish synagogue in their place.”

This came in statements made by Borrell to reporters, yesterday, Thursday, after holding an informal meeting of the 27 European Union foreign ministers in the Belgian capital, Brussels.

Referring to the deteriorating situation in the West Bank, the European official stressed that “its seriousness cannot be ignored.”

“The situation there is appalling, and it is getting worse every day,” he said, expressing concern about the inflammatory rhetoric from some members of the Israeli government.

He condemned the recent statements of Israeli extremists calling for the destruction of mosques to build a synagogue in their place, saying: “Such measures cannot be tolerated.”

Borrell drew attention to the broader implications of the conflict, saying it “extends beyond Gaza to the West Bank and Jerusalem, areas of great regional and symbolic value.”

In statements before the meeting, Borrell revealed that he had initiated measures to impose sanctions on Israeli ministers for “issuing hate speech against the Palestinians and proposals that contravene international law and constitute incitement to commit war crimes.”

He continued: “A process has been initiated to ask member states whether they want to include in our sanctions list some Israeli ministers who have made unacceptable hate speech against the Palestinians and proposals that clearly contravene international law and constitute incitement to commit war crimes.”

Borrell’s move comes within the framework of rejecting Israeli violations, especially in its war on the Gaza Strip and finally with the widespread escalation in the West Bank.

But a formal decision to impose sanctions on Israeli ministers would require unanimous support from EU member states, and Borrell made it clear that no decision would be made today due to the informal nature of the meeting.

While Borrell did not name the ministers involved in his remarks, he repeatedly expressed his protest over the statements and actions of Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, in addition to criticizing recent statements by Foreign Minister Israel Katz.

“The large-scale Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank should not be a prelude to an extension of the war from Gaza, including total destruction,” Borrell said in a post on Twitter.

He stressed in his post that “the comparison drawn by Minister Katz, especially regarding the evacuation of the Palestinian population (in the West Bank), threatens to fuel further instability.”

Borrell reiterated his position on Thursday, stressing that Katz’s statements about the forced displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank were “totally unacceptable.”

“Every day is more terrifying than the day before. Ceasefire talks move from one day to the next without results, while the bombing continues and the number of civilian casualties increases,” he said.

For months, Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been leading indirect negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian factions movement, but they have not resulted in an agreement due to Israel’s rejection of the factions’ demand to end the war, withdraw its forces from the Gaza Strip and return the displaced Palestinians to the north of the Strip.

Borrell quoted Katz as saying: “As happened in Gaza, there must be a forced mass displacement of the population of the West Bank,” describing his statement as “almost the same thing they did to the people in Gaza.”

He also expressed his hope that the foreign ministers of the European Union countries would raise their voices loudly against the situation in Gaza and the West Bank.

On Thursday evening, the Israeli army withdrew from the city of Tulkarm and its two camps in the northern occupied West Bank after a 48-hour military operation that left 4 Palestinians dead, according to eyewitnesses.

On Wednesday morning, the Israeli army launched a military operation in the northern West Bank, the “largest” since 2002, which resulted in the killing of 16 Palestinians and the wounding of dozens of others, according to the Ministry of Health.

Anatolia