UN rights investigator urges EU to punish any Israeli annexation in West Bank

A UN rights investigator has urged the European Union to adopt measures in a bid to prevent or punish any Israeli annexation of the occupied West Bank, less than a week before the Tel Aviv regime intends to implement its much-condemned plan to annex further parts of the Palestinian territory.

In a statement on Friday, Michael Lynk, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory said the European bloc should back up its warnings against Israeli plans with “a decisive menu of counter-measures.”

He was apparently pointing to possible economic, trade or other sanctions against Tel Aviv. The EU has already said that the annexation must not go unchallenged. 

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has time and again announced that he would begin cabinet-level discussions for annexing more areas in the occupied West Bank on July 1, in accordance with US President Donald Trump's the so-called deal of the century.

Trump’s scheme, unveiled in January, largely gives in to Israel’s demands while creating a Palestinian state with limited control over its own security and borders, enshrining the occupied Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel’s “capital” and allowing the regime to annex settlements in the West Bank and the Jordan Valley.

UN, European MPs, Arab League call on Israel to ditch West Bank annexation plans

The UN and the Arab League urge Israel to abandon its plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank.

Lynk’s statement came just three days after some 1,080 lawmakers from 25 European countries warned that the annexation plans “will be fatal to the prospects of Israeli-Palestinian peace and will challenge the most basic norms guiding international relations.”

They also said called for “commensurate consequences”, if Israel, which has more than 400,000 settlers in the occupied West Bank, went ahead with annexation.

Annexation to have ‘significant consequences’ for EU-Israel relations, EU warns

The EU’s foreign policy chief warns that the annexation plan pursued by the Israeli regime will have "significant consequences" for EU-Israeli relations.

On June 18, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell also warned that the annexation would have "significant consequences" for bilateral ties between the bloc and Tel Aviv.

On Wednesday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, for his part, repeated his call on Israel to “abandon its annexation plans.”

Elsewhere in his remarks on Friday, Lynk said that “We have reached a point where resolutions without resolve can no longer contribute to reaching the just and durable peace and human security that Palestinians and Israelis deserve.”

 

However, it seems that the EU has not yet decided on a clear strategy on how to stop Israel’s plan or how to respond in a meaningful way if annexation goes ahead.

Ex-Knesset member calls for massive uprising against West Bank annexation

A former Knesset member called for a massive uprising against Israel’s annexation of the West Bank.

Trump’s scheme further maintains that the future Palestinian state will consist of scattered lands linked together via bridges and tunnels. It will also be demilitarized, meaning it will be subject to Israeli control for security.

On May 19, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who heads the Palestinian Authority, declared the end of all agreements signed with Tel Aviv and Washington. He previously said that Trump’s scheme “belongs to the dustbin of history.”

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