France, Germany, Italy, Poland, the United Kingdom and Spain expressed, on Saturday March 4, "their deep concern at the continuation and intensification of violence in the occupied Palestinian territories", in a joint communiqué from their heads of diplomacy.
"We strongly condemn the recent terrorist attacks that caused the death of Israeli citizens," they wrote. “We also strongly condemn the indiscriminate violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians,” they continue, adding that the perpetrators of all such acts “must be held to account and brought to justice.”
This unpublished press release comes in a context of renewed violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, particularly in the West Bank, occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967. Last Sunday, the Palestinian town of Huwara was attacked by settlers, hours after two young settlers were killed as they drove through the northern West Bank town.
The signatories of the communiqué urge all parties to "honor the commitments they made at the Aqaba meeting, easing tensions in word and deed". Israeli and Palestinian officials pledged February 26 to work toward “de-escalation” at a US-sponsored meeting in Jordan.
"We also reaffirm our strong opposition to all unilateral measures that undermine the two-state solution, including with regard to the progress of colonization", write the European ministers. They "urge the Israeli government to reverse its recent decision to approve the construction of more than 7,000 housing units across the occupied West Bank and to legalize informal settlements."
Since the beginning of the year, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has claimed the lives of sixty-five Palestinian adults and children, combatants and civilians. Thirteen Israeli adults and children, including members of the security forces and civilians, as well as a Ukrainian woman, were killed during the same period, according to an Agence France-Presse tally based on official sources from both parts.
