Tuesday, July 16, 2013

EU Deals Will Force Israel to Admit West Bank Outside State

Curt Here...

A new EU directive with Israel that goes into effect Friday, will require that all contracts between EU member states and Israel will carry a clause stating that East Jerusalem and the West Bank are not part of the State Of Israel.

This new directive goes into effect Friday and lasts until 2020.  This directive will run for the next 7 years.   I am convinced that this "clause" is tied to previously signed agreements between the EU and Israel, most notably the ENP.  The ENP is a 7 year agreement between the EU and Israel that started in 2006 and ends in December of 2013.  One of its requirements is that Israel must make progress towards peace with the Palestinians.   The next ENP is scheduled to begin in 2014 and runs through 2020.  

I think the EU is forcing Israel's hand and is tired of waiting on Israel to agree to a two state solution.  This should be watched very closely, as this could turn out to be very significant.

Stay Tuned
Curt


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New directive, to go into effect Friday, will put areas over Green Line outside EU agreements, Haaretz reports; Jerusalem source calls move ‘earthquake’

A new directive published by the European Union will require contracts between EU member countries and Israel to include a clause stating that East Jerusalem and the West Bank are not part of the State of Israel, it was reported on Tuesday.

The directive, to go into effect on Friday, would leave any the West Bank and East Jerusalem outside any agreement signed between Israel and the EU and forces the Israeli government to acknowledge in writing that its settlements in the territories are not part of the state, a senior Israeli official told Haaretz, which first reported on the story Tuesday morning.

The anonymous official described the ruling as an “earthquake” which turned “understandings and quiet agreements that the Union does not work beyond the Green Line” into “formal, binding policy.” One Israeli official told Haaretz that “we are not ready to sign on this clause” in future agreements with the EU, and said that pushing back could cause a “halt to all cooperation in economics, science, culture, sports and academia” with Europe, which “would cause severe damage to Israel.”.......

The new directive, initiated in December by the EU foreign ministers, is “in conformity with the EU’s longstanding position that Israeli settlements are illegal under international law and with the non-recognition by the EU of Israel’s sovereignty over the occupied territories, irrespective of their legal status under domestic Israeli law,” the EU said in a statement.

The directive, to be in effect until 2020, are designed in part to stave-off a general boycott of Israel and to ensure that Israel’s participation in EU projects is “not put in question,” the EU told Haaretz. Reportedly, the cause is already affecting negotiations over a proposed Israeli-EU youth project.

For more go here...http://www.timesofisrael.com/future-eu-deals-will-force-israel-to-admit-west-bank-outside-state/#comments

1 comment:

the70thweek said...

When Europe demanded Israel surrender the Western Wall

The European Union’s new directive banning any cooperation with Israeli institutions over the Green Line isn’t new, and is actually being implemented for Israel’s benefit, according to the office of the EU’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

The directive contains two main planks: denial of European funding to, and cooperation with, Israeli institutions based or operating over the Green Line, and a requirement that all future agreements between Israel and the EU — and possibly between Israel and individual member states as well — include a clause in which Israel accepts the European Union’s position that all territory over the Green Line does not belong to Israel.

As Ashton’s office noted in a statement sent to The Times of Israel Tuesday, the directive was “in conformity with the EU long-standing position that Israeli settlements are illegal under international law and with the non-recognition by the EU of Israel’s sovereignty over the occupied territories irrespective of their legal status under domestic Israeli law.”

....As another official noted, the EU’s new policy is in effect demanding that Israel deny — in writing — any rights to the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest site, as a precondition for signing any agreement with the EU.

Ashton’s office tried to explain that the development was a positive one for Israel.

“This is important in view of the new opportunities that will be offered to Israel (as an ENP [European Neighborhood Policy] partner) for participation in EU programmes and other funding instruments in the 2014-2020 financial framework,” read the statement issued to The Times of Israel.

“We want Israel to play a full part in these instruments and we want to be sure that Israel’s participation is not put in question so that Israel will be able to make use of all possibilities offered by the new financial framework,” it added.

For more go here..http://www.timesofisrael.com/when-europe-accidentally-demanded-israel-surrender-the-western-wall/

Things are getting really interesting.

Curt