A European Union official Sunday called on Israel to end its policy of evicting Palestinians from their homes and demolishing houses, according to dpa. The statement by EU Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response Kristalina Georgieva came after a meeting with United Nations Under Secretary General Valerie Amos and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. The visiting officials had met earlier in the day with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad at a school in the Jordan Valley that is slated for demolition by Israel, because it is in an area of the West Bank that the Jewish state considers under full Israeli control. Georgieva and Amos met with families in East Jerusalem's neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah whom Israel had evicted from their homes and replaced with Israeli settlers. "I am particularly moved by the plight of ordinary Palestinian families whom I met in the West Bank's area C and in East Jerusalem," Georgieva said. "Notably women and children live under the constant threat of harassment, eviction and disruption of their lives. There is an issue of protection. Any action that leads to forced displacement must stop." "This issue combined with serious restrictions on access and movement imposed by the occupying power means that most of the people are denied the possibility for economic and social development. They are denied the right to live a life in dignity." The two officials, on a four-day visit to the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel, are scheduled to visit the Gaza Strip on Monday and then meet Israeli officials on Tuesday.
