The EU (and Germany) continues to violate international law by giving millions to Arab projects in Area C

The EU issued this press release today:

Today, the European Union (EU), Germany, and the Palestinian Authority signed a €6 million grant agreement to build 12 new social and public infrastructure projects in Area C of the West Bank. This initiative is part of the European Union's ongoing Area C Development Programme, which aims to improve essential infrastructure and services for Palestinian communities.

This latest funding package marks the seventh phase of the EU’s Area C Development Programme and will benefit over 33,000 Palestinians living in 12 localities across the West Bank. The projects to be implemented include the construction of a school, roads, sewage and water distribution networks, a water reservoir, and the rehabilitation of electricity networks. With this new contribution, the total investment in the programme rises to €23.2 million, covering 73 infrastructure projects in 59 localities. The European Union Area C Programme is funded by the European Union and its Member States.

 The statement then includes this interesting phrase: "All EU activity in the West Bank is fully in line with international humanitarian law."

If the EU decided that illegal immigrants to America have the right to live in Yosemite National Park and would fund building houses and schools for them there, it would not violate international humanitarian law. But it would certainly be illegal. 

Even if you consider Area C to be under occupation, the laws Israel must implement there - under international law - would be the laws that existed in that area under Jordanian, British and Ottoman rule. Israel does this - and even anti-Israel activists admit this, arguing that those laws are "outdated" but unable to say that there is anything wrong with enforcing those laws. 

When the EU builds structures on Area C lands against the laws in place under the British Mandate, they are violating international law. They know this quite well, which is why they use that curious expression that they are not violating humanitarian law. 

Here's the game: The EU builds illegal buildings, Israel properly dismantles them under the laws that it must follow, the EU then condemns Israel for following the international law of belligerent occupation.  Areas that were empty since time immemorial are now being populated, with Palestinians encouraged to move to Area C to pressure Israel.

And they have.

When Area C was first defined, there were less than 100,000 Arabs living on that land. By In 2008, that went up by 50% to 150,000. In 2014, that doubled to 300,000. It is probably higher now. That is a much more dramatic jump in population than the much derided Jewish "settlements" in Area C. 

EU policy is clear - Jews must not live on their ancestral lands of Judea and Samaria. But when they invoke IHL to justify their manifestly illegal activities, the only conclusion is that their insistence that Israel follow international law is pure hypocrisy.

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