Borrell: Katz’s statements on the West Bank are “totally unacceptable”

Brussels – The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, said that the statements of Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz regarding the forced displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank are “totally unacceptable.”

This came in statements to reporters made on Thursday, ahead of the informal meeting of European Union foreign ministers, held in Brussels.

“Every day is more horrific 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,” Borrell 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 stressed that this matter is “totally unacceptable,” expressing 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.

Borrell said that he had conveyed to the European Union countries a proposal to include the Israeli ministers responsible for the violence committed by settlers against the Palestinians in the European Union sanctions system, indicating that no decision would be issued from today’s meeting due to its informal nature.

On Wednesday, Borrell warned Israel in a statement published on the X platform against expanding the scope of its attacks in the Gaza Strip to the West Bank.

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 17 Palestinians and the wounding of dozens of others.

Anatolia