BRUSSELS 

The European Union on Tuesday condemned Israel’s plans to evict Palestinian families in the occupied West Bank.

“Settlement expansion, demolitions, and evictions are illegal under international law,” Peter Stano, the chief spokesperson for the EU diplomatic service, said in a statement, which came as a response to the Israeli Supreme Court’s decision in the Masafer Yatta eviction case.

On May 5, the court ended a legal dispute between the Israeli state, which designated the territory in the South Hebron Hills a firing zone in 1981, and the Palestinians who lived there for decades.

The decision practically approves the eviction of 1,200 Palestinians from eight villages in the region.

“The EU condemns such possible plans and urges Israel to cease demolitions and evictions,” Stano said, urging Israel to respect its international obligations.

He warned that evictions and demolitions, forced population transfers, including of Bedouins, threaten the two-state solution and “only escalate an already tense environment.”

He also pointed out that the establishment of a firing zone cannot be considered an “imperative military reason” to transfer the population under occupation.

The West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is seen as occupied territory under international law, making all Jewish settlements there illegal.

Like Turkiye and much of the international community, the EU does not recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the territories it has occupied since 1967.

Since 2001, the EU has repeatedly called on Israel to end all settlement activity and to dismantle the already existing ones.​​​​​​​