International condemnation of settlements does not target Israel’s colonial plan

The discrepancy between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statements and those of the EU shows where the political deficiency lies. Predictably, the EU’s failure to address settler-colonialism and Israel’s existence as a colonial enterprise is failing to curb expansion. Words without action fulfil nothing except the publication of futile statements. Netanyahu, on the other hand, is adamant about settlement expansion in both rhetoric and action.

Speaking about illegal settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank, Netanyahu told the settlers, “You are fulfilling the vision of the Land of Israel, and this is our land.” If it really was Israeli land, settlement expansion would not be illegal under international law.

However, declaring only part of Israeli settlements illegal while dismissing the structure that provides cover for settlement expansion – Israel itself – only serves to create further impunity for Israel, and complicity within the international community.

On Sunday, the EU High Representative’s office issued a statement condemning the publication of a tender for 1,200 housing units in the E1 area, saying that the plan “fundamentally harms the prospect of a two-State solution”.

Every time Israel proceeds with settlement expansion, the EU response is to issue variations of the same statement. And yet, attaching the same criticism to each settlement project is not preserving Palestinian territory for the Palestinian people.

The EU, like the rest of the international community, treats each announcement separately from Israel’s colonial existence and the concept of Greater Israel. EU statements, therefore, are characterised by phrase repetition and lack of continuity. They do not condemn colonialism and colonial expansion; only separate settlement projects.

A joint statement by the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Canada, Norway, the Netherlands and several other European countries used similar rhetoric, saying the E1 project violated “the territorial contiguity of the Palestinian territories” and undermined “Israel’s international standing”. What is meant by undermined, however, is not explained. Is Israel’s international standing truly undermined, when settlement expansion and settler violence are ongoing without repercussions, not to mention the support Israel received from the international community for its genocide in Gaza?

Israel’s standing is not truly undermined until repercussions for colonialism are implemented by the international community.

On the other hand, Israel is creating colonial continuity through its statements and colonial expansion. It knows that each settlement project harms the two-state politics, to the point that there is no more talk among Israeli officials of a hypothetical Palestinian state. It is only the international community that keeps the paradigm alive, knowing that both settlement expansion and international inaction against colonialism have eliminated any possibility of a Palestinian state.

The EU should not only address the illegality of Israel’s settlement expansion; it should do so within the entire colonial context. It should also take note of its own role in enabling Israeli colonial expansion to continue by insisting upon a failed paradigm that serves nothing but international politics.

If a Palestinian state is impossible, then Palestinians are automatically excluded. Due to its defunct state, the two-state paradigm can only serve Israel and the international community. It has done so for decades now.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.