EU says it's concerned about Israeli settlement

HELSINKI, Dec 27 (Reuters) The European Union said today it was deeply concerned about Israel's plan to turn a former army base in the occupied West Bank into a settlement for 30 Jewish settler families evacuated from Gaza last year.

A US-backed Israeli-Palestinian peace plan known as the ''road map'' calls for a halt to settlement construction in the West Bank, land Palestinians want for a state.

''This development runs contrary to the commitment undertaken by Israel in the road map,'' Finland, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU, said in a statement.

''The Presidency of the European Union expresses its deep concern at the news that the Israeli Government has authorised the construction of the Maskiot settlement in the West Bank.

''Such unilateral actions are also illegal under international law and threaten to render the two-state solution physically impossible to implement,'' it said.

The families planning to move to the former army base in Maskiot lived in two of the 21 settlements Israel dismantled in the Gaza Strip in 2005 under a ''disengagement plan'' promoted by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Some 8,500 settlers were pulled out of the Gaza Strip, along with Israeli troops, after 38 years of occupation.

''The Presidency of the EU urges the parties to refrain from all activities that would endanger the ceasefire,'' Finland said.

''Extending the ceasefire to the West Bank must be an urgent goal.'' Some 260,000 settlers live in the West Bank, among 2.5 million Palestinians. The World Court has branded Israeli settlements on land captured in the 1967 Middle East war as illegal. Israel disputes this.

REUTERS SP RAI2143