EU states opposed Israeli law allowing return of settlers to evacuated areas

  Britain and a dozen other EU member states are condemning the Israeli parliament (Knesset) to approve a bill allowing settlers to return to the West Bank areas evacuated in 2005, as part of the so-called disengagement law. In a joint statement on Monday, London and EU countries, including France, demanded that Israel stop the threatened dispossession of several Palestinian families east of Al-Quds forced evacuation of Palestinian families from the Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah neighborhoods in eastern Al-Quds (East Jerusalem). "It is of great concern that the Israeli authorities intend to continue to evict Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank and East during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan from Al-Quds,” the statement said. According to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the Knesset on Monday passed a bill that would repeal clauses in the Withdrawal Law that ban Israelis from living in the region where the four illegal settlements of Homesh, Ganim, Kadim and Sanur previously in north de s occupied West Bank The bill, supported by Likud Knesset member Yuli Edelstein and Minister for National Missions Orit Malka Strook, passed by a vote of 40 in favour, 17 against.

There is no longer any justification for preventing Israelis from entering and staying in the evacuated area of northern Samaria (West Bank) and therefore it is proposed to declare that these sections [of the Withdrawal Act] no longer apply to the evacuated area” , reads the introductory text of the amendment.In 2005, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon enacted a law mandating the unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the north of the West Bank and the elimination of 25 illegal settlements in both areas.Twenty-one settlements in Gaza were established already removed and 8,000 settlers have been evacuated. In the occupied West Bank, 4 illegal settlements were evacuated but their structures were maintained and the areas were designated as closed military zones.