Jerusalem /PNN/

The European Union stressed that settlement expansion, demolitions, and evictions are illegal under international law.

The Israeli Supreme Court issued last week (May 4) a decision on the Masafer Yatta eviction case in the South Hebron Hills in the occupied West Bank, increasing the risk of the forced transfer of some 1,200 Palestinians and the demolition of their homes.

In a statement issued by the EU spokesperson, the EU condemned such possible plans and urged Israel to cease demolitions and evictions, in line with its obligations under international humanitarian and international human rights law.

“The establishment of a firing zone cannot be considered an “imperative military reason” to transfer the population under occupation,” said the statement.

Furthermore, the EU recalled that demolitions and evictions, forced transfers including of Bedouins, severely threaten the two-state solution and will only escalate an already tense environment from which no one can truly benefit and which only further deteriorates the situation on the ground for ordinary people on both sides.