The European Commission is being urged to consider drafting legislation to ensure financial transactions by EU member states do not support Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem.
The EU document argues that Israel is "actively perpetuating its annexation" of Arab East Jerusalem, which it captured in 1967, by "systematically undermining the Palestinian presence in the city". An internal EU report leaked last week was very critical of Israel's policies and planning rules in "Area C", the 62% of the West Bank which it fully controls.A French parliamentary report also described Israel's water policies in the occupied Palestinian territories as a form of "apartheid", because they give preferential treatment to Jewish settlers.