Fatah urges EU states to ban entry of ‘violent’ settlers

Group's spokesman says banning settlers would be an appropriate response to decision to deport pro-Palestinian European activists.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH, TOVAH LAZAROFF
Jordan valley settlement 311 (photo credit: REUTERS)
Jordan valley settlement 311
(photo credit: REUTERS)
A Fatah spokesman on Saturday called on the European Union to ban “violent” settlers from entering its countries.
The appeal was issued by Jamal Nazzal, Fatah’s spokesman in Europe, who said that EU countries should consider the possibility of banning settlers who had been involved in violence from entering their territories.
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Nazzal said that banning settlers from entering EU countries would be an appropriate response to the Israeli authorities’ recent decision to deport pro-Palestinian European activists.
The Fatah spokesman also called on EU government officials to stop holding meetings with their Israeli counterparts in “occupied Jerusalem.” He said that EU countries should abide by the 2010 recommendations of the EU Representative Office, which envisage east Jerusalem as the future capital of a Palestinian state.
Nazzal said that EU officials who visit east Jerusalem should avoid having Israeli security and protocol accompanying them and refrain from staying at Israeli hotels and using Israeli transportation.
Fatah also demanded that EU officials refrain from visiting Israeli “settler” excavation sites in east Jerusalem and to impose a ban on products of settlements.
An Israeli official said in response that rather than listening to advice from the Palestinians, the international community should be sending a crystal clear message to the Palestinians that it is time to restart the negotiations.
“The only way to solve the complex issues on the table and to move forward in peace is through negotiations with Israel,” the official said.
“The current impasse in the peace talks is the fault of the Palestinians who have consistently refused to engage in peace talks,” the official said.
Dani Dayan, who heads the Council of Jewish Communities of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip, said Nazzal’s words were yet one more piece of evidence “that the PA is one of the leading players in the delegitimization campaign of Israel, as a means to achieving its goal of annihilating Israel.
“They will fail in that goal,” he added.