During this quarter, the EU was ambivalent regarding the Palestinians’ UN statehood bid, with differences of opinion between member states being exposed. The EU was also lobbied by the U.S. government to oppose the Palestinian initiative on grounds that it would be bad for the peace process (10/1), a concern also expressed (10/11) by the Greek Dep. FM Dimitris Kourkoulas in 10/2012 when he said that the EU was advising the PA to be sure that the UN bid did not damage the peace process (10/11). In late 10/2012, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton visited Israel and the West Bank, meeting with Netanyahu and other officials, as well as Fayyad and Abbas (10/23). By 10/30, a PLO official was able to predict at least 12 ‘‘yes’’ votes from EU member states at the UNGA vote in 11/2012.
The EU expressed criticism of Israeli settlement growth on various occasions, typically prompted by announcements of tenders for settlement housing units. Ashton publicly condemned the planned expansion of Har Homa settlement (8/22), as well as the decision to approve 800 new houses in Gilo (10/19) and the publication of tenders for 1,200 new homes in East Jerusalem settlements in Pisgat Ze’ev and Ramot (11/6).