The Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union decided within hours of the Knesset’s passage of the historic Land Normalization Law that it would postpone a diplomatic summit scheduled with Israel for the end of this month.
The move came as a protest of Israel’s settlement building policy as stated in the Settlement Regulation (or “Normalization”) Law, which would allow the government to compensate Arab land owners who are able to prove their claims of land ownership over the formerly empty plots where any settlements were built.
The owners would either receive a large financial package or an alternative plot of land. In the case of land with unknown owners, the government could legally expropriate the land. The legislation would also require the settlement to have acted in good faith at the time it was built, and that its leaders did not know the land was privately owned.
Foreign ministers of the member states met Monday night to discuss the summit, noting their opposition to the law and to Israeli legislation regarding settlements in general.
The EU is expected to discuss the summit again next month. In the meantime, however, there has been no new date set.