Foreign Desk Report
BRUSSELS: The European Union rejected parts of the new U.S. peace plan for the Middle East on Tuesday, saying the plan broke with “internationally agreed parameters”, and any Israeli annexation of Palestinian land would be subject to challenge.
President Donald Trump’s plan, announced last week, was warmly welcomed by Israel and rejected outright by the Palestinians. It would give Israel most of what it has sought during decades of conflict, including nearly all Palestinian land on which it has built settlements.
The EU, which often takes time to respond to international developments because of a need for unanimity among its 27 members, had said last week that it needed to study the Trump plan before it would give its verdict.
It made its conclusions public on Tuesday in a statement from EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
“To build a just and lasting peace, the unresolved final status issues must be decided through direct negotiations between both parties,” Borrell said, noting the issues of the borders of a Palestinian state and the final status of Jerusalem were among those still in dispute.
“The U.S. initiative, as presented on 28 January, departs from these internationally agreed parameters,” Borrell said.
Steps by Israel to annex Palestinian territory, “if implemented, could not pass unchallenged,” Borrell said.
EU policy in the Middle East tends to be cautious, as the bloc includes members with varying degrees of sympathy towards the Palestinians and Israel. Some EU members have already recognized a Palestinian state, although the bloc as a whole says this is a matter to be resolved in peace talks.
The EU condemned Trump’s decision in 2017 to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, saying Washington had compromised its position as a mediator for peace.
Based on the first days of 2020, this year may become a dramatic turning point in our region.
Three years of a catastrophic foreign policy by the Donald Trump administration, and almost the same period of time of European paralysis in the Middle East, the consequences of not taking action to advance the cause of peace and security are coming out every day. Now there are signs that the Trump administration may finally release its “plan”. A gift to Netanyahu’s campaign that will further undermine the prospects of peace in the region.
One of the active cards played by Benjamin Netanyahu in his electoral campaign has been his foreign policy successes.
While his uninterrupted government of almost 10 years has provoked an unprecedented increase in violations of international law and UN resolutions, several foreign governments have continued to protect him.
Even if they have publicly disagreed with those Israeli policies, these governments have done nothing but empowering those who have done everything possible to destroy the prospects of peace.
Such endorsements continue to roll in from the Trump Administration and the Australian government to some governments in Europe: Hungary, Czech Republic, Romania, Germany and the United Kingdom, just to mention some, are examples of governments that have lobbied or taken positions in international organisations against accountability measures for Israel’s systematic violations of international law and UN resolutions.
We remain invisible in European-Israeli relations. The Jewish nation-state law that allows the right to self-determination to Jewish citizens alone and downgrades the Arabic language, in addition to dozens of discriminatory laws against the Palestinian non-Jewish citizens of Israel, has not succeeded yet to provoke any significant change in European circles.
On the contrary, in a clear tweet posted on 10 January, the chancellor of Austria wrote: “Many thanks to PM Netanyahu for our very good phone call.
