ISRAEL: EU condemns murder of Israeli soldier by Palestinian
Agence Europe
23/09/2013

On 22 September, the EU condemned “in the strongest terms”, the murder of an Israeli off-duty solider in the West Bank by a Palestinian. “The EU (…) urges for maximum restraint and reiterates its call to all parties to refrain from actions that could undermine the negotiation process and the prospects of peace”, said the spokesperson for High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, stating that this death “comes in the wake of several worrying incidents in the West Bank”. The soldier was reportedly killed by a Palestinian with whom he had worked. Another Israeli soldier was shot to death in Hebron on 22 September.

Call for implementation of guidelines.

On 19 September, at the initiative of Paul Murphy (GUE, Ireland) 51 MEPs from the S&D, GUE, Greens/EFA, ALDE and EPP Groups, and from 14 member states, called on Ashton to stay on track with implementing the guidelines for financial support to Israel – despite pressure from the USA (see EUROPE 10917). “We strongly believe that the Israeli settlements should not benefit from European taxpayers' money and we ask you to ensure that the directives are fully applied”, they stated. If this is not the case, they believe that this would be equivalent to a decision to ignore international law, according to which the settlements are illegal.