No EU support for bodies working in Israeli settlements

European External Action Service (EEAS) Executive Secretary-General Pierre Vimont reiterated the European Union's commitment to the European decision to withdraw of and withhold support from companies and research centers which operate in Israeli settlements. The official made a remark to this effect in his meeting on Monday, with Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Al-Maliki in the presence of Director of the North Africa, Middle East, Arabian Peninsula, Iran and Iraq Departments of the EEAS Christian Berger and the EU Representative in Palestine John Gatt-Rutter. Al-Maliki reviewed recent Israeli violations and aggressions on the sanctity of Al-Aqsa Mosque, as well as continued settlement expansion. He hailed EU support and stressed that it is paramount to sustain cooperation between the two sides. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had urged European and other corporations working in Israeli settlements to suspend their operations there, as they constitute a violation of international law. In a press conference a few days ago with President of the European Council Herman Achille Van Rompuy, in Brussels, Abbas said it was vital to implement EU procedures in this regard by the scheduled date of 2014, adding this does not concern operations in Israel but rather in territories occupied by Israel in 1967.