Norway is urging Israel not to go ahead with plans to extend sovereignty to the Jordan Valley and parts of Judea and Samaria.
“Any unilateral step would be detrimental to the (peace) process, and annexation would be in direct violation and contravention of international law,” Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Soereide told Reuters after a meeting on Tuesday of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC), which Norway heads.
The AHLC is a body comprised of several international organizations and countries that works to coordinate international aid to the Palestinians and Palestinian Authority.
Soereide also said that he spoke with Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi on Tuesday to push Israel not to take such action. “It would undermine the potential for a two-state solution,” she said.
Sources told Israel Hayom last month that the European Union’s Foreign Affairs Commission is reportedly debating punitive measures against Israel should it push forward with its plans to annex parts of Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley in accordance with the Trump administration’s Middle East peace plan.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell is the one pushing for sanctions, according to the sources. Borrell, a Spanish diplomat, is known for his animosity toward Israel.
