FORMER EUROPEAN LEADERS: SANCTION ISRAEL OVER SETTLEMENT BUILDING
10. Dec, 2010
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Palestinians work at a construction site in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Elazar, near Bethlehem
26 former top EU officials, including ex EU chief Solana and former German President Richard von Weizsacker, urge world powers to confront Israel over its refusal to obey international law.
By Akiva Eldar
A group of 26 senior former European leaders who held power during the past decade are calling for strong measures against Israel in response to its settlement policy and refusal to abide by international law.
In an unusual letter sent Thursday to the leadership of the European Union and the governments of the EU’s 27 member states, the signatories, including former heads of state, ministers and heads of European organizations, criticize Israel’s policies.
Among those signing the letter are the former European Union High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana, former German President Richard von Weizsacker, former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzales, former president of the EU Commission and former Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, and former Irish President Mary Robinson.
The group drew up a series of recommendations to the current EU leadership during a meeting in London in mid-November.
The sharply worded document joins a decision by the governments of South American countries, including Brazil and Argentina, to recognize a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders. In addition, the European Union Council has decided to support the Palestinian Authority’s decision to establish an independent state and put an end to the occupation.
The letter’s timing is also related to an announcement by the U.S. administration about the failure of the negotiations with Israel on extending the freeze on settlement construction. The former European leaders note that key American figures had suggested to them that the best way to help U.S. President Barack Obama in his efforts to promote peace was to make policy that contradicts U.S. positions come at a cost to Israel.
The European leaders are backing the Palestinians’ efforts to rally international support for the recognition of an independent Palestinian state as an alternative to the negotiations that have reached an impasse. They note that the Palestinians cannot expect to be able to set up an independent state without international political and economic assistance.
As such, they are calling on the European Union to play a more effective and active role vis-a-vis the United States, Israel and others. They also want it made clear that a European Union decision to upgrade relations with Israel and other bilateral agreements will be frozen unless Israel freezes settlement activities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
They also propose that the EU announce that it will not accept any unilateral changes to the 1967 border that Israel carried out against international law, and that the Palestinian state would cover an area the same size as the area occupied in 1967. This would also include the establishment of a capital in East Jerusalem.
The leaders recommend that the EU support only minor land swaps on which the two sides agree.
Source: Haaretz.com
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All the recent developments regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict: the recognition of Palestine by Brazil and Argentina, and the promise by Uruguay to recognize Palestine in 2011, and the letter signed by 26 former European leaders and sent to the current EU leaders and several heads of states, have their roots in one event – an event that stirred the conscience of the world – the Gaza War. The atrocities perpetrated by Israel in this war, broadcast live by TV stations, especially the BBC and Al Jazeera, have forced the entire world to look at Israel and its illegal occupation of Palestine in new light, and have for ever changed the way the world looks at Israel. Since the collapse of the peace talks, the world is convinced now more than ever before, that Israel has miraculously transformed itself from a democracy into an Apartheid Regime with an insatiable hunger for Palestinian ancestral lands, and I think momentum is building to finally resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict, to bring lasting peace to the region, and to officially declare at the UN the creation of Palestine comprising of the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and help Palestine to proudly hoist its flag in East Jerusalem.
Yesh Prabhu, Bushkill, Pennsylvania
[Reply]
Our race is the Master Race. We are divine gods on this planet. We are as different from the inferior races as they are from insects. In fact, compared to our race, other races are beasts and animals, cattle at best. Other races are considered as human excrement. Our destiny is to rule over the inferior races. Our earthly kingdom will be ruled by our leader with a rod of iron. The masses will lick our feet and serve us as our slaves.”
— Menachem Begin – Israeli Prime Minister 1977–1983
(Revelation 2:9,,3:9)
[Reply]
How could anybody believe anything that Begin said. That man was the biggest piece of shit ever to be born. This was truly an evil man. He belongs with Hiler-Stalin etc. The masses will lick our feet, well he is partially right. The united states has been doing it for a long time now & its not going to stop,unfortunately. Long live Palestine.
[Reply]