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Lip Service to Peace:
EU as an Enabler of Netanyahu's Colonial
Policies
By Ramzy Baroud
Al-Jazeerah, CCUN, November 19, 2012
Europe is different, as we are often reminded. The general
wisdom is unlike the United States’ unconditional support for Israel.
European countries tend to be more balanced in their approach to the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Their politicians are less receptive to being
bought and sold by pro-Israeli lobbies. Their media is far more inclusive in
their coverage - unlike the staunchly one-sided US mainstream media that, at
times, are far more pro-Israel than Israeli media itself. While one must
concede that no single country’s foreign policy is an exact carbon copy of
another, there is little evidence that set the European Union (EU) apart as
a platform of evenhandedness and political sensibility. Unlike the United
States however, European bias is far more inconspicuous, and purposely so.
No other issue highlights European inconsistency, hypocrisy and even
self-defeating policies as that of the EU stance regarding the illegal
Jewish settlements in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank. All the
firm statements about the EU’s commitment to international law pertaining to
the illegality of the settlements, all the warnings that the
ever-encroaching colonial structures impede any chances – if any exist – of
a two-state solution, and all the rest, are no more than declared policies
that stand in almost complete contradiction to reality on the ground.
Not only does the EU do little to show real resolve in discouraging the
growth of the settlements – which now occupy nearly 42 percent of the total
size of the West Bank and East Jerusalem and most of their natural resources
– but, in brazenly direct ways, it actually funds the growth of these very
settlements. The oddity is that the EU does so while continuing to be a
major funder of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and tireless advocate of the
two-state solution. But how can the EU advocate the very ‘solution’
that is itself effectively involved in its demise? Mere hypocrisy -
discrepancy between rhetoric and action, or is the EU”s attitude part of a
decided foreign policy agenda that is much greater than the political will
of individual countries? Facts and numbers unmistakably demonstrate
EU complicity, complacency and direct investment in the Israeli colonial
project. In a new report entitled: “Trading Away Peace: How Europe helps
sustain illegal Israeli settlements”, twenty-two NGOs expose a most
revealing European duplicity. The NGOs included major organizations such as
Christian Aid and the International Federation for Human Rights.
“The most recent estimate of the value of EU imports from settlements
provided by the Israeli government to the World Bank is $300m (€230m) a
year; this is approximately fifteen times the annual value of EU imports
from Palestinians,” the report showed. “With more than four million
Palestinians and over 500,000 Israeli settlers living in the occupied
territory, this means the EU imports over 100 times more per settler than
per Palestinian.” Europe is Israel’s largest trade partner,
followed by the United States. Without such major trade routes, the Israeli
economy is likely to suffer the consequences of Israeli government policies.
Moreover, the amount cited above is likely much larger since much of Israeli
products originating in the occupied territories are marketed under the
‘Made in Israel’ label, simply because many settlements-based companies have
branches in Israel. A case in point is SodaStream, which produces an at-home
carbonation device. The vast majority (over 70 percent) of its products are
sold in European countries, despite the fact that the manufacturing of the
product takes place in Ma’ale Adumim, a Jewish settlement built illegally
over Palestinian land in East Jerusalem and constantly in a state of
expansion. Companies based in illegal settlements receive generous tax
breaks and other incentives, as in using ‘Jewish-only’ roads, which
Palestinians are not allowed to use, although the roads are constructed on
their land. “Because the company also maintains a factory in Israel,” wrote
Eline Gordts in the Huffington Post, it can sell its products under the
label ‘Made in Israel’.” Such strategy can be successful in avoiding the
formality of branding products made in Jewish settlements as such, which is
applied by two European countries. The EU has little quarrel with
being a major market that keeps the settlements prosperous and economically
competitive. It is in fact doing its utmost to integrate the Israeli economy
into the larger European market. The latest of such efforts took place on
October 23 when the European Parliament ratified the EU-Israel Agreement on
Conformity Assessment and Acceptance (ACAA). The ratification is barely an
isolated gesture, for it is part of ceaseless efforts that go back to the
1995 Association Agreement, which supposedly meant to reward Israel for its
peacemaking efforts and help it break away from its regional isolation.
Despite Israel’s incessant efforts at colonizing much of the West Bank,
continued ‘legal’ and physical isolation of occupied East Jerusalem, and
protracted siege on Gaza, the EU has done little to underscore any objection
to Israel’s violation of international law. “It is worth remembering,” wrote
Emanuele Scimia in Asia Times, “that on July 24 the European Council, the
EU's decision-making body, already agreed to upgrade trade and diplomatic
relations with Israel in more than 60 sectors.” Rife with
contradictions, European countries continue to tread with the same odd logic
of supporting settlements and criticizing them at the same time. Three
European powers – Germany, Britain and France – joined forces from Berlin on
Nov 6 criticizing Israel over its recent decision to permit the construction
of over 1,200 units in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. “Our clear
expectation of all sides in the Middle East is that they refrain from
anything that will make the resumption of negotiations more difficult,”
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said. He called Israel’s
settlement policy “a hindrance to the peace process.” In fact, this is the
tip of the iceberg because according to the NGOs report “over the past two
years, settlement expansion has accelerated with more than 16,000 new
housing units announced or approved.” That policy is likely to continue with
unprecedented ferocity since the right-wing government of Benjamin Netanyahu
made it clear that settlements construction is the cornerstone of his
policies, especially once he receives a new mandate following the upcoming
elections. The growth of the settlements is accompanied by a
parallel destruction of “Palestinian structures - including those funded by
European donor support.” Neither is the EU actively defending its declared
policies regarding settlements, nor is it taking any meaningful legal action
against the systematic Israeli destruction of EU-funded projects in the
occupied territories. Even worse, according to the report “some
European-owned companies have invested in settlements and related
infrastructure or are providing services to them. Cases that have been
reported include G4S (UK/Denmark), Alstom (France), Veolia (France), and
Heidelberg Cement (Germany) ..” European policies may seem
irrational at the surface – as in, for example, Germany criticizing Israeli
settlements, yet permitting Heidelberg Cement to profit from the occupation.
But political absurdity is not exactly a trait of European politics, nor can
such contradictions last for so long, if political incongruity was not
itself the very policy that the EU wishes to pursue. Indeed, the EU
foreign policies regarding Palestine/Israel are different from those of the
United States, while the latter is openly one-sided and ‘unconditionally’
so, the former is deviously complicit in ensuring the very occupation that
it is supposedly trying to end. – Ramzy Baroud (ramzybaroud.net) is
an internationally syndicated columnist and the editor of
PalestineChronicle.com. His latest book is My Father Was a Freedom Fighter:
Gaza’s Untold Story.
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