German diplomat Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff, who represents the European Union in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, said on Wednesday during a visit to Samaria, “There is no such thing as Area B and C, it’s all Palestine.”
Areas A, B, and C are three administrative zones in Judea and Samaria established under the Oslo Accords. Area A is under Palestinian Authority civil and security control. Area B is governed by P.A. civil control but joint Israeli-Palestinian security. Area C, roughly 60% of the area, is fully under Israeli civil and military control.
Von Burgsdorff also said that “what we’re seeing in Homesh is not just a violation of international law … it’s a violation of Israeli domestic law.”
He was referencing the Knesset’s vote in March to repeal articles of a 2005 law banning Israelis from residing in the four communities in northern Samaria—Homesh, Sa-Nur, Ganim and Kadim—that were evacuated during the disengagement.
The E.U. on Wednesday issued a statement saying it is “gravely concerned by and condemns the decision of the Israeli authorities to allow Israeli citizens to establish permanent presence in the outpost in Homesh.”
Von Burgsdorff made his comments during a tour for senior E.U. diplomats organized by three Israeli far leftwing NGOs opposed to Jewish communities living in Judea, Samaria and parts of Jerusalem—Peace Now, Yesh Din and Emek Shaveh.
The tour included a visit to the archaeological site of Sebastia (biblical Shomron), the capital of the northern Kingdom of Israel in the eighth and ninth centuries BCE, which the Palestinian Authority has been trying to systematically erase and take over.
The group also met with PA Arabs from the village of Burqa overlooking Homesh.
The Nachala Settlement Movement condemned the group’s visit: “The cooperation between ‘Peace Now’ and the European representatives with the aim of undermining the Jewish hold on northern Samaria illustrates the ridiculous and ludicrous situation of the movement’s representatives and the entire initiative.
