A man in EU uniform threatens Israeli soldiers and bystanders with a rock on the West Bank in 2012

The EU is acting illegally by funding unauthorised Palestinian building in areas placed under Israeli control by the Oslo Accords, say an NGO, international lawyers and MEPs.

More than 400 EU-funded Palestinian homes have been erected in Area C of the West Bank, which was placed under Israeli jurisdiction by the international agreement, to which the EU is a signatory.

The Palestinian buildings, which have no Israeli permits, come at a cost of tens of millions of Euros in public money, a proportion of which comes from the British taxpayer.

This has raised concerns that the EU is using valuable resources to take sides in a foreign territorial dispute.

Official EU documentation reveals that the building project is intended to ‘pave the way for development and more authority of the PA over Area C (the Israeli area)’, which some experts say is an attempt to unilaterally affect facts on the ground.

Locally, the villages are known as the ‘EU Settlements’, and can be found in 17 locations around the West Bank.

They fly the EU flag and display hundreds of EU stickers and signs. Some also bear the logos of Oxfam and other NGOs, which have assisted in the projects.

Questions have also been asked about the conduct of EU workers in the region, after a picture emerged of a man in EU uniform threatening soldiers and bystanders with a rock outside a settlement in 2012. An EU spokesperson declined to comment on the picture.

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An apparently unauthorised Palestinian building, north of Jerusalem and east of Ramallah, proudly flies the EU flag

A map of the West Bank produced by Regavim, an Israeli group, shows the EU-funded Palestinian settlements represented by stars. The yellow part is Area C, which was placed under Israeli control during the Oslo Accords. The pink and red parts are Areas A and B, which are Palestinian

An apparently unauthorised Palestinian school funded by the EU flies the EU flag. It is located near Adam Junction, north of Jerusalem, in an area supposed to be under Israeli jurisdiction

Palestinian buildings, located north of Area E1 on the West Bank, display EU flags. Regavim, an Israeli NGO, claims they were built illegally

Palestinian dwellings overlooking the road in an allegedly Israeli-controlled area of the West Bank

A Palestinian boy plays outside his EU-funded home on the West Bank. It is alleged to have been built illegally

Palestinian homes on Road 437, near the E1 section of the West Bank. According to Regavim, they have been erected illegally

An EU-funded Palestinian settlement is pictured alongside a main road on the West Bank

A home for a Palestinian family on the West Bank, showing the EU flag

An allegedly illegal Palestinian settlement, displaying numerous EU flags, located on Road 437 north of Area E1 on the West Bank

The claims have been made by Regavim, a right-of-centre Israeli NGO which has closely been documenting the construction. Its findings are backed by senior international lawyers and two MEPs.

Maja Kocijancic, a Brussels-based EU spokesperson, denied that this was happening.

‘The EU's funding will provide training and expertise, to help the relevant Palestinian Authority (PA) Ministries to plan and build new infrastructure and enable people to reclaim and rebuild their land there,’ she said.

‘To date, no construction has started yet under these programmes. The EU is not funding illegal projects.'

But Shadi Othman, a spokesman for the EU in the West Bank and Gaza, accepted that the construction was taking place.

'We support the Palestinian presence in Area C,' he said. 'Palestinian presence should not be limited Areas A and B. Area C is part of the occupied Palestinian territory which eventually will be Palestinian land.

'Palestinians have a right to live there, build schools there, have economic development.

'This is part of the work done to build the future Palestinian state which will live side by side with Israel.

'It's an international and EU interest to protect the viability of the two state solution.'

He added: 'If some people are complaining about this, we should not forget the illegal Israeli settlements that are built on occupied Palestinian territory and are illegal under international law and constitute an obstacle to peace.'

An Oxfam spokesman said that the construction was justified on humanitarian grounds.

'In recent years, around 97 percent of Palestinian permit applications for building in the Occupied Palestinian Territory have been rejected by the Israeli Government,' he said.

'This means many Palestinian communities in Area C, which is under full Israeli Government control, are being prevented from building basic, essential structures such as homes and schools.

'Palestinian communities in Area C are some of the poorest in the West Bank. The international community has a responsibility to support vital projects for marginalised communities in Area C.'

Ari Briggs, International Director of Regavim and principal author of the report, claimed that humanitarian projects are being used by the EU and Oxfam as a ‘Trojan horse’ for political aims.

‘Area C has been identified by the anti-Israel “humanitarian community” as a hot spot to push Israel,' he said.

‘These organisations with EU funding are encouraging and actively aiding the illegal attempt to take over public land. This has nothing to do with human rights and everything to do with taking advantage of less privileged nomadic societies for political goals.’

A Palestinian boy poses with a €5 note outside an apparently EU-funded Palestinian home near Jerusalem. An EU flag is visible on the building in the background

An EU symbol is clearly visible on the side of this building, which has allegedly been illegally constructed on the West Bank

EU-funded Palestinian dwellings on the edge of a wood on the West Bank

An EU water tank at Mitzpe Jericho, near Jerusalem, which provides water to the local Palestinians

An EU structure at Mitzpe Jericho, in the Israeli-controlled section of the West Bank

An EU-funded Palestinian settlement north of the E1 section of the West Bank

At least two Members of the European Parliament are raising the matter with EU policymakers.

On 1 February, James Carver, a British MEP for the West Midlands region, highlighted it in a letter to the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs.

‘The structures all bear the name and flag of the EU and official EU agents have been photographed participating in overseeing the construction, so the active involvement of the EU can hardly be denied,' he wrote.

'I kindly call upon you to do your utmost to bring an end to these illegal and destructive activities,'

Michael Theurer, a German MEP who is a member of the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, shares his concerns. ‘I am taking these allegations seriously and will thoroughly investigate them,’ he said.

A Palestinian settlement that, according to Regavim, an Israeli NGO, does not have permits to exist in an Israeli-controlled area

Palestinian people living in an EU-funded settlement at Wadi Kedar, east of Jerusalem near the Israeli settlement of Ma'ale Adumim

An alleged 'illegal outpost', showing EU stickers, is pictured in the Jordan Valley

Ariel photographs from 1999 (left) and 2013 (right) allegedly show the development of an illegal Palestinian settlement at Mitzpe Jericho, in an Israeli area of the West Bank

The largest of the alleged 'EU settlements' is Wadi Abu Hindi, which is about five miles away from Jerusalem. It is comprised of more than 100 houses, of which about 30 display EU signs.

Another, Khan Al Amar, is located one kilometre north of Highway One, which bisects the West Bank. It is comprised of about 50 houses, all of which displaying EU signs.

A third, Mak-Hul, in the northern West Bank near Nablus, is located on an Israeli military firing range. A fourth is Susia, in the south near Hebron.

A man in an NGO worker's uniform arrives in an EU-branded car at a small Palestinian settlement in the Judean Desert, in October 2014

An EU vehicle is shown parked next to a digger allegedly used for construction in an area of the West Bank placed under Israeli jurisdiction

An allegedly unauthorised structure on an Israeli army firing range in the northern West Bank flies the Palestinian flag and displays the EU flag

The Office of the European Union Representative in Jerusalem said in a statement: 'The European Union is deeply dismayed by and strongly opposes Israeli plans to expand settlements in the West Bank, including in East Jerusalem, and in particular plans to develop the E1 area.

'The E1 plan, if implemented, would seriously undermine the prospects of a negotiated resolution of the conflict by jeopardizing the possibility of a contiguous and viable Palestinian state and of Jerusalem as the future capital of two states.

'It could also entail forced transfer of civilian population. In the light of its core objective of achieving the two-state solution, the EU will closely monitor the situation and its broader implications, and act accordingly.'

Alan Baker, an international lawyer who took part in drafting the Oslo Accords in the Nineties, said: ‘The EU is a signatory to the Oslo Accords, so they cannot pick and choose when they recognise it.'

Professor Eugene Kontorovich, an international lawyer from the Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago, added: ‘There’s no question, the EU is openly in violation of international law.'