”In the occupied Palestinian territories, for example, the situation is becoming unsustainable.Entire villages are being wiped off the map by the Israelis,” Minister of Development Cooperation declared in an interview.

Belgium’s Ambassador to Israel was summoned for a reprimand.

‘’Yesterday I was shocked to read the libellous and defamatory accusation made by Minister Caroline Gennez,’’ said Israel’s Ambassador to Belgium, Idit Rosenzweig, in a tweet following remarks made by the minister in an interview to a Belgian newspaper.

The minister of development cooperation, who is from the Flemish Socialist party, told daily De Morgen that ‘’we need to concentrate our aid in areas where humanitarian needs are extremely high and international support is insufficient.’’ Asked to give an example, she said:’’ In the occupied Palestinian territories, for example, the situation is becoming unsustainable.Entire villages are being wiped off the map by the Israelis. The periods of escalating violence are shorter than before but more frequent and more intense. As a result, the population no longer has room to catch its breath. More Palestinians have been injured and killed in violence since the beginning of this year than in all of 2002.’’

The Israeli embassy issued Wednesday an official letter of protest to the minister and the Belgian foreign ministry.

The Belgian ambassador in Israel was summoned to the ministry of foreign affairs in Jerusalem for a reprimand and was required to provide an explanation.