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.”