Eight European Union nations have underlined their opposition to Israel's planned demolition of the Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar and have urged the Israeli government to reconsider the decision.
On Sept. 5, the High Court of Justice upheld an order to raze the village on grounds that it was built illegally.
Home to some 180 Bedouin Palestinians, Khan al-Ahmar lies 10 kilometers (6 miles) east of Jerusalem between the Israeli communities of Maaleh Adumim and Kfar Adumim.
Israel seeks to relocate the residents some 12 kilometers (7 miles away), near the Palestinian village of Abu Dis, but human rights groups say that removing the Bedouin village would create a bigger Israeli settlement pocket near Jerusalem and make it more difficult for Palestinians to achieve territorial contiguity in the West Bank, where they seek a future state.
At the United Nations on Thursday, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Belgium, Poland and the Netherlands warned that the demolition of Khan al-Ahmar "would be very serious and would severely threaten the viability of the two-state solution and undermine prospects for peace.
"We therefore call upon the Israeli authorities to reconsider their decision to demolish Khan al-Ahmar," the countries said in a joint statement read by Dutch Ambassador Karel Van Oosterom ahead of a U.N. Security Council meeting on the Middle East.
The eight stressed that they "will not give up on a negotiated two-state solution with Jerusalem as a capital" of both Israel and a new Palestinian state.
