Diplomatic spat breaks out over EU members criticism of Israel

Dec 22, 2011, 10:59 GMT

Tel Aviv - Israel on Thursday slammed the four EU members of the UN Security Council for issuing a statement in which they criticized Israel's decision to speed up the construction of settlements and called on Israel to break the political impasse with the Palestinians.

The statement 'completely contradicts' past policies and was made without prior warning, as per diplomatic custom, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told dpa.

Referring to Israeli plans to build 1,000 housing units in and near East Jerusalem, the ambassadors to the United Nations of Britain, France, Germany and Portugal on Tuesday said they were 'dismayed by these wholly negative developments.'

They also called on Israel and the Palestinians to submit their opening positions on two key negotiating issues - borders and security - to the quartet of Middle East negotiators.

The Palestinians refuse to negotiate directly with Israel unless it freezes settlements, while Israel has said it will only submit its proposals in direct negotiations with the Palestinians.

The call by the EU Security Council members to submit proposals to the quartet 'completely contradicts' past policies and the quartet's support for direct negotiations, Palmor said.

'To add insult to injury, it was done without coordination or consultation,' he added. 'You don't issue even a condemnation statement without consultation or at least a warning, or prior contacts.

'All this is very, very disappointing. 'That is not how friends behave,' he said.

A written Foreign Ministry statement even warned that the EU members could 'lose their credibility and make themselves irrelevant' as mediators.

The Middle East Quartet is made up of the European Union, the United States, the UN and Russia.

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