On Friday, July 19 the new European Commission's directive is to come into effect, which declares the Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories illegal and prohibits EU members from having any cooperation with such settlements. As was to be expected, a harsh reaction from Israel followed: the Europeans have been accused of anti-Semitism and compared the steps taken by Brussels with the Nazi policy of the Third Reich.
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The European Commission adopted the directive that regulates the cooperation with Israel back in late June. According to the directive, all 28 EU member states are barred from having economic ties with organizations located in the occupied territories. The new norms also cover scientific and cultural cooperation as well as interaction in the area of sports. In the future all agreements signed between the EU and Israel will only cover the territory of Israel inside its pre-1967 borders, i.e. prior to the Six-Day War. This way they will not be effective in the territories of the Israeli settlements on the West Bank of the Jordan River, in Golan Heights as well as the territory of East Jerusalem.
Despite the fact that the directive has not become effective yet, the Israeli mass media and politicians are actively discussing this subject. The Haaretz newspaper is infuriated by the “racist” actions of the Europeans and announces that discrimination of the Jewish people continues. The government also reacted in an utmost harsh way: the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that external dictatorship on the issue of Israel's borders was unacceptable. Given that, Israel is clearly not planning to amend its policy in relation to the statements made by the EU and the construction of the settlements will go on, - confirmed Nissan Slomiansky, the head of the Knesset’s financial committee.
The great degree of importance of the relations between Jerusalem and Europe explains Israel's painful reaction to the EU directive, said Doctor Tamar Amar-Dahl, a historian at the Free University of Berlin, in his interview to the Voice of Russia.
“From Israel's point of view, the continuation of the talks remains problematic. Israel is not deeply interested in continuing the negotiations with the Palestinians in order to resolve the conflict based on the principle ‘two states for two nations’. And now the pressure coming from the EU creates even greater complexity for Israel, as the country needs Europe, needs the European market. Stopping the funding of its settlements in the occupied territories is viewed by Israel as a violation of its national security”.
At the European Commission such a furious reaction coming from Israel is surprising. “We have always said that the construction of Israeli settlements runs against international law,” a EU representative stated in Brussels. In addition, he pointed out that the measures now taken have been discussed with the Israeli leadership for months and the decision was practically made back in December 2012. Now it is simply being implemented. It is hard to say what specific goal the Europeans have in mind by openly confronting Israel. In practice their steps could seriously complicate the situation around the conflict in the Middle East. Besides that, it is not quite clear how Israel will be able to sign agreements with Brussels going forward. According to the new rules by signing the agreements Israel would automatically acknowledge that the listed territories do not belong to it.
Some experts believe that the new measure taken by Brussels could lead to a winding down of any cooperation between Israel and Europe – specifically, this is the opinion of Evgeniy Satanovsky, the director of the Institute of the Middle East:
“The decision taken by the European Commission points at the fact that Europeans are not neutral intermediaries, or as it is called, honest brokers in the negotiations between Israel and the representatives of the Palestinian nobility. This directive puts an end to any cooperation between Israel and Europe in general, as for example the Israeli banks, through which all financial operations of Israeli citizens and organizations are made, undoubtedly all have their representations in the territories the directive is talking about”.
Meanwhile, the opposition in Israel has welcomed this initiative taken by the EU. The opponents of the Netanyahu government see in this directive a positive sign that the world in general and Europe specifically still preserve their interest in the resolution of the conflict in the Middle East