BRUSSELS, 5th October, 2026 (WAM) -- The European Union and its member states must take action against a large-scale Israeli settlement project in the occupied West Bank. Around 500 former diplomats, ministers and European officials made the call in an open letter on Monday, carried by Belga News Agency.
The Israeli government will soon award contracts for the first phase of the illegal E1 settlement project, the diplomats write. The project envisages building more than 1,200 homes near Jerusalem and would split the West Bank in two. According to the signatories, the plans make a two-state solution impossible, "the only possible outcome that could resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict".
"Despite the far-reaching consequences of the new land annexation, the EU has taken no measures to deter E1, nor has the Union, more generally, fulfilled its obligations (...) to act against violations of international law," they say. The signatories single out Germany and Italy's opposition to sanctions for particular criticism.
The signatories are calling on the European Commission, among other things, to "immediately submit legislative proposals" to "sanction all financial institutions and other service providers involved in implementing the E1 project and other illegal settlements". The plan also called for preventing "All EU trade with the illegal settlements."
The signatories include former Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme, former French Prime Ministers Dominique de Villepin and Alain Juppe, former Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven and former Italian Prime Minister Massimo D’Alema.