JERUSALEM—In the latest diplomatic confrontation over Israeli settlement building, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman of Israel took the unusual step of summoning four European ambassadors on Friday to complain about what he called their countries’ “perpetual one-sided stance against Israel and in favor of the Palestinians.”
The ambassadors of Britain, France, Italy and Spain were called in a day after Israel’s ambassadors to those countries were summoned to hear protests about settlement building in areas the Palestinians view as part of a future independent state. Israeli officials described Mr. Lieberman’s step as a counterprotest.
This was the first time that Israel had summoned European ambassadors as a group over such an issue. The Israeli protest was delivered by the Foreign Ministry’s acting director general, Nissim Ben Shetrit.
Mr. Lieberman said in a statement that the European position was “unacceptable and gives rise to the feeling that they are only looking to place blame on Israel.”
Last week, the Israeli government published plans to build 1,400 housing units in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, territories that Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 war. It was the latest in a series of settlement announcements in recent months, intended partly to compensate right-wing members of the government for the release of groups of long-serving Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. The prisoner releases came as part of an American-brokered deal for the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks last summer.
The settlement announcements have infuriated and embarrassed the Palestinian leadership. Washington has condemned them as unhelpful to peace efforts.
Most countries consider Israel’s settlement building a violation of international law governing occupied territory. Israel argues that the territory is disputed.
The diplomatic frictions with Europe capped a week of Israeli-American tensions over the peace process after contentious comments attributed to Israel’s hard-line defense minister, Moshe Yaalon, were leaked to the Israeli news media. Mr. Yaalon reportedly called Secretary of State John Kerry’s push for a peace deal an “obsession” and derided American security proposals. Mr. Yaalon later apologized for any offense caused and Mr. Kerry said he would not let “one set of comments” undermine the peace effort.
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