Palestinian Ibrahim Abed Alfatah, 80, originally from the village of Zakarya inside what is now Israel, sits outside his small store in the Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem in the West Bank yesterday. Palestinians mark the 64th anniversary of the Nakba (catastrophe) today, commemorating the exodus of hundreds of thousands of their kin following the foundation of the Jewish state in 1948
AFP/Brussels

EU foreign ministers yesterday issued a harsh critique of Israel, saying the gathering pace of settlement-building, settler extremism and ill-treatment of Palestinians threatens a two-state solution.
“The EU expresses deep concern about developments on the ground which threaten to make a two-state solution impossible,” the bloc’s 27 ministers said in a statement issued during talks in Brussels.
“The viability of a two-state solution must be maintained,” the three-page European Union statement added.
Reiterating that settlements on occupied land are illegal under international law, the ministers notably condemned “the marked acceleration” of settlement building since the end of a 2010 moratorium and expressed “deep concern” over settler extremism in the West Bank.
They also voiced concern over evictions and the demolition of Palestinian homes in annexed East Jerusalem “and the prevention of peaceful Palestinian cultural, economic, social or political activities”.
Turning to the so-called Area C zone of the occupied West Bank, where Israel has full civil and security control, the statement noted “the worsening living conditions” of the Palestinian population in general.
The ministers’ stand came on the heels of a damaging report by NGOs this weekend alleging that Israel last year demolished dozens of Palestinian homes, water cisterns and farm buildings built with European funds.
In Area C, Israel has placed “serious limitations” on the Palestinian Authority’s ability to promote economic development, the statement said.
Saying the future of Area C was critical to a future Palestinian state because this was its main land reserve, the EU urged Israel to halt demolitions and simplify the granting of building permits.
“The EU will continue to provide financial assistance for Palestinian development in Area C and expects such investment to be protected for future use,” the statement said.
But Israel’s foreign ministry said the EU position included “a long list of claims and criticism which are based on a partial, biased and one-sided depiction of realities on the ground”.
Hanan Ashrawi, a senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, welcomed the EU statement as “politically responsible”.
But the Palestinians wanted to see the EU propose a way forward in stalled peace talks, which have been on hold since late September 2010, she said.
“What is lacking, unfortunately, is a mechanism to move ahead... We were hoping that they would take an initiative, a mechanism, concrete steps.”