EU-Israel Trade Agreement, Funding Ban W. Bank [Update]

{Update1} Israel PM criticises EU funding ban

(Al Jazeera) – The EU Guidelines make clear that, from next year, Israeli “entities” operating in the territories will not be eligible for EU grants, prizes or loans. The measure will apply to Israeli companies, universities or other bodies operating in areas occupied by Israel since the 1967 war, including the Golan Heights, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

“The EU has made it clear that it will not recognise any changes to pre-1967 borders,
other than those agreed by the parties to the Middle East peace process.”

Analysis: Israel ignores EU’s anti-settlement sentiment at its own peril

(JPost) – Until Tuesday, most people in Israel paid no attention to paragraph 4 of the conclusions issued by the European Union’s foreign ministers following their 3,209th meeting on December 10 in Brussels, chaired by Catherine Ashton.

The paragraph read:

“The European Union expresses its commitment to ensure that – in line with international law – all agreements between the State of Israel and the European Union must unequivocally and explicitly indicate their inapplicability to the territories occupied by Israel in 1967, namely the Golan Heights, the West Bank including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.”

That meeting took place soon after the Netanyahu government – in response to the Palestinians gaining non-member state observer status in the UN General Assembly — gave a green light to zoning and planning in the E1 area between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim, and authorized the building of 3000 housing units in the large settlements blocs and in post-1967 neighborhoods in Jerusalem.

The December EU Council conclusions slammed the E1 decision in the harshest of terms. But few here paid much attention because it just seemed “more of the same” anti-settlement rhetoric from the Europeans, whose fierce opposition to the settlements is as well known as it is long standing.

But that December 10 policy statement was not just “more of the same,” and now the new EU guidelines preventing grants beyond the Green Line is the first concrete implementation of what some may have thought was just abstract policy.

There are two schools of thought about how this came about. One, the-nothing-is-coincidental school, argues that the fact that these guidelines are being published now indicates that the Europeans – who screamed last year for a more robust American effort to move the process forward – believe the process is going nowhere, and that Israel must be pressured.

The other school of thought holds that once Europe decided in December that a territorial clause must be written into every agreement with Israel and that bureaucratic process was set into motion, it was just a matter of time before the decision would be implemented: which is what is happening now.

Right-wing MKs: EU decision racist, we will build more in settlements

Continued below the fold …

Right-wing MKs: EU decision racist, we will build more in settlements

(JPost) – The European Union’s decision not to include the West Bank in agreements with Israel is a sign the government should start peace talks, Finance Minister Yair Lapid said on Tuesday.

“This decision is one of a long line of decisions leading to Israel’s isolation from the world,” Lapid said. “Time is not on our side, and every day that Israel is not in peace talks is a day that our international standing worsens.”

At the same time, the Yesh Atid chairman criticized the EU’s actions, saying it comes with terrible timing and harms US Secretary of State John Kerry’s efforts to restart negotiations.

“The EU’s decision sends a signal to the Palestinians that there is no international or economic price for their continual refusal to return to talks and leads them to believe that Israel will have to give in to economic and diplomatic pressure,” the finance minister explained.

Lapid added that he plans to explain to Israel’s friends in the EU that their directive will not help them reach their goals, and will keep peace away rather than bring it closer.

Right-wing MKs expressed outrage at the European Union’s announcement, calling it racist and using Holocaust metaphors.

Gush Etzion head calls on gov’t to annex Area C of West Bank

EU slams Israel over settlements, but stops short of calling for sanctions

(Times of Israel) Dec. 10, 2012 – The European Union slammed Israel over its plans to expand Jewish settlements beyond the Green Line, especially in the contentious E1 area east of Jerusalem. The union’s Foreign Affairs Council did not announce any concrete sanctions against Israel, but hinted that it could consider punitive measures in the future if Jerusalem did not reconsider its controversial decisions.

“The European Union is deeply dismayed by and strongly opposes Israeli plans to expand settlements in the West Bank, including in East Jerusalem, and in particular plans to develop the E1 area,” the union’s Foreign Affairs Council, which met in Brussels, stated. “The E1 plan, if implemented, would seriously undermine the prospects of a negotiated resolution of the conflict by jeopardizing the possibility of a contiguous and viable Palestinian state and of Jerusalem as the future capital of two states. It could also entail forced transfer of civilian population.”

“The European Union expresses its commitment to ensure that — in line with international law — all agreements between the State of Israel and the European Union must unequivocally and explicitly indicate their inapplicability to the territories occupied by Israel in 1967, namely the Golan Heights, the West Bank including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip,” the council resolution states.