US, EU condemn Israeli settlement moves

The United States is expected to voice deep disappointment at Israel's speeding up of settlement building following UNESCO's decision to grant full membership to the Palestinians, a US official said on Wednesday. "(We are) deeply disappointed by the announcement," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, referring to Israel's decision on Tuesday to accelerate construction of some 2,000 housing units in eastern Jerusalem and on the West Bank. The Palestinians are looking to establish a state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, land Israel seized in the 1967 Middle East War. "We continue to make our opposition clear to the (Israeli) government (that) unilateral actions such as these work against efforts to resume direct negotiations and do not advance the goal of a reasonable and necessary agreement between the parties," the official added. The European Union also expressed "deep concern" on Wednesday about Israel's decision to speed up settlement activity. "We call on Israel to reverse this decision and call on both sides to continue their engagement with the Quartet on advancing peace efforts," EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement, adding that settlement building was against international law. Acting after the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization voted on Monday to accept the Palestinians as full members, Israel also decided temporarily to halt transfers of revenues that it collects for the Palestinians. The US official noted that cutting off such revenues hurt the efforts of Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to build the institutions of a Palestinian state, including security forces that have helped to maintain the peace. On Tuesday, the Palestinian presidency said Israel had decided "to speed up the destruction of the peace process" by accelerating settlement building and described the decision to temporarily halt transfers of funds as "inhumane."