Baerbock calls on Israel to stop settlement projects

Talks about a ceasefire in Gaza and a hostage deal are still stalling. Partners and neighbors are losing patience with Israel’s government. Foreign Minister Baerbock has clear words.

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is calling on the Israeli government to put an end to settlement projects in the West Bank as a sign of trust-building in the region. Settlement construction in the West Bank clearly violates international law. “It is illegal,” criticized the Green Party politician after a meeting with her Israeli counterpart Israel Katz in Tel Aviv. “In my view, the Israeli government could also regain lost international trust by stopping the ongoing settlement projects as a first step,” she said.

Israel’s government must also take “stronger and more visible action against the violent acts of radical settlers,” Baerbock demanded. This would be a “first important step towards easing tensions in the West Bank.” Baerbock had said the day before in Jordan that Israel was “an occupying power there and, according to the Geneva Convention, was obliged to maintain law and order instead of endangering it.”

Two months ago, Israel approved the construction of more than 5,000 housing units in several settlements in the West Bank and decided to legalize several settler outposts. These improvised settlements are also illegal under Israeli law, but are occasionally legalized retroactively

In view of the stalled mediation talks on a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of the 101 hostages kidnapped by the Islamist Hamas, the Foreign Minister also spoke with Defense Minister Joav Galant. While the US government sees such an agreement within reach, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains adamant on questions surrounding the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip. There is still a very low double-digit number of German nationals or people with German families among the hostages.

After the discovery of the six hostage bodies at the weekend, Galant called on Israel’s security cabinet to reverse its decision to maintain control over the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. Israel’s demand for permanent control of the approximately 14-kilometer-long strip is one of the main points of contention in the negotiations on a hostage deal.

Baerbock stressed that Israel’s security “remains a German matter of state”. It is about the security of the country and its people, “and not about the security of a government in particular or of individual members of the government”. For this and for peace in the region, partners are needed. “If these partners continue to disappear, then peace has no chance.” This is also why she travelled to Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

After the mass protests last weekend, when hundreds of thousands took to the streets against the Netanyahu government after the discovery of the bodies of six hostages, the number of participants in the demonstrations has decreased significantly. Netanyahu is unyielding. There is no deal in sight, he told the US broadcaster Fox News.

According to the United Nations, the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is “more than catastrophic”. The UN’s partners do not have sufficient food supplies, said UN spokesman Stéphane. The number of meals cooked daily has decreased compared to July. The reason for this is also the evacuation orders issued by the Israeli army.

At the end of her trip, Baerbock wanted to speak to the Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, Mohammed Mustafa, in Ramallah in the West Bank. In Baerbock’s view, the authority could play an important role in a post-war order in the Gaza Strip.

During her visit to the West Bank, Baerbock had an employee of the Israeli human rights organization Betselem show her the consequences of Israel’s settlement policy, which leads to significant restrictions for the Palestinians, at a viewing point near Ramallah.

The Federal Foreign Minister also met with those affected by settler violence. A village council representative told her that they were living like in a prison. His village was surrounded by Israeli settlements. Israeli soldiers were harassing the Palestinian residents, including children and women. The Israeli settlers were also preventing them, who made their living from agriculture and livestock, from harvesting olives, the man said. Valuable pastureland had also been confiscated.

The ten-day Israeli army operation against Islamist extremists in Jenin in the northern West Bank has now ended, according to a Palestinian media report. In the town, which is considered a stronghold of militant Palestinians, 14 militants have been killed and more than 30 suspects arrested, the Israeli military said. According to the Health Ministry in Ramallah, 21 people have been killed in the area and 39 in the entire West Bank since the Israeli military began its large-scale military operation last week.

On Thursday evening, Baerbock met with around 20 relatives of hostages. During the exchange, it became clear that the relatives’ patience was becoming increasingly thin, it was said afterwards. Some saw an advance of the army as the greatest danger for the remaining hostages – some even said that this could be a death sentence for them.