“We remain seriously concerned by the continued demolition of Palestinian property by Israeli authorities.
Israeli forces reportedly demolished 12 buildings in Wadi Hummus outside East Jerusalem allegedly for violating construction rules after the Israeli top court rejected an appeal by their residents.
The four EU countries called this episode “particularly egregious” as a number of destroyed buildings were located in areas under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority as defined by the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinians.
“The spokespeople of the EU, as usual, bought into the lies of the Palestinians without any in-depth examination while spreading their bias.
“When illegal construction presents a security threat, Israel has the authority, including according to the Oslo Accords, to enforce the law against it.
“The Supreme Court even ruled in favor of such. The Palestinians purposely built their houses next to the security barrier!,” Erdan wrote on Twitter.
The homes, in an area known as Wadi al-Hummus, are part of Sur Baher, but fall outside of Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries and inside Palestinian Authority-controlled areas of the West Bank.
Erdan said that under the Oslo Accords — which established the Palestinian Authority in 1994 and divided the West Bank into areas A controlled by the Palestinian Authority, B under joint control, and C under Israeli control — Israel has the right to act against security threats.
“In the context of today’s demolitions in Jerusalem’s Wadi Al-Hummus, it is worth emphasising that the residents themselves were the ones, who wanted to move to the west side of the security barrier, and the barrier was then diverted eastwards for them.
`Afterwards, they then began illegally building in a region situated in Jerusalem, even though they were in areas A, B and C,” Erdan wrote.
dpa/NAN
