Reuters, Jerusalem :
Israel has summoned envoys from four European states to protest their “one-sided” stand in favor of the Palestinians, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Friday, escalating a quarrel over Israeli settlements.
On Thursday, Britain, France, Italy and Spain called in Israeli ambassadors to hear protests against Israel’s latest announcement of settlement-building on land the Palestinians want for a future state.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the European criticism “hypocritical”, and in a tit-for-tat move, Lieberman said envoys from the four EU countries had been summoned to a meeting in the foreign ministry in Jerusalem.
In a statement, he said Israel would make clear “that the one-sided position they constantly take against Israel and in favor of the Palestinians is unacceptable and creates a feeling that they are only looking to place blame on Israel.”
