The European Economic Community’s 10 member-states have issued a sharp denunciation of Israel’s settlement policy, calling on the Jewish State to “put an end to the territorial occupation it has maintained since 1967.”
In a major declaration issued by the EEC’s Foreign Ministers, adopted last week at the EEC summit meeting here and released yesterday, the statement also called for the Palestine Liberation Organization to be associated with any negotiations for peace in the Middle East, and reiterated a call for the establishment of a Palestinian homeland.
The EEC meeting ended in disarray and President Francois Mitterrand had urged that the Foreign Ministers back off from issuing a statement on the Mideast when it was apparent that they could not even solve their own problems, primarily related to the EEC’s financial situation.
Nonetheless, the EEC Ministers decided to issue the declaration which also called on Israel to solve its disputes with the Arab community through negotiations and adopt a policy based on the “non-acquisition of territory by force.”
The statement continued with a call for the cessation of the building of new Jewish settlements on the West Bank and Gaza and pledged “to develop the European community’s action in favor of the population of the occupied territories.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
