© REUTERS/ Mohamad TorokmanA Palestinian protester holds a poster depicting former South African President Nelson Mandela during a demonstration against Jewish settlements at the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, near Ramallah December 7, 2013.
The EU's five largest states, Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Spain, warned on December 16 that Israel would be responsible for failed talks if it planned to announce further settlement construction after the release of Palestinian prisoners at the end of the month.
"New announcements of settlement activity after the third round of prisoner releases at the end of the month might be a fatal blow for the peace process," EU ministers said in a joint statement.
However, if talks are positive, the foreign ministers of the 28 EU member states, based on a recently passed resolution, would award both Palestinians and Israelis with an "unprecedented package" of economic, political, and security aid.
Under the package, the relations between the two sides would be also upgraded to "special privileged partnership."
© ReutersPalestinians ride on a donkey near homes in the West Bank settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim, near Jerusalem,
Palestinian and Israeli negotiators began a new round of talks in July.
This comes while talks previously held between the Palestinians and Israel were halted in September 2010 after Tel Aviv refused to freeze its settlement activities in the occupied West Bank.
Israel has so far defied international calls to stop its construction of illegal settlements. Despite ongoing talks with the Palestinians, Israel continues with building settlements on occupied territories.
Over half a million Israelis live in more than 120 illegal settlements built since Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds in 1967.
Comment: The Israeli government defiantly continues to act with impunity, constructing illegal settlements on stolen Palestinian lands, in repeat violation and with complete disregard of the rule of international law.