It has been a puzzling couple of days when it comes to Israel’s foreign relations. The big story dominating newspaper headlines in Israel and causing a general uproar is the new European Union guidelines setting forth the policy of the EU not to have any dealings in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, or the Golan, and requiring EU agreements with Israel to contain a clause explicitly stating that the settlements are not part of Israel. This has predictably and understandably caused much angst in all reaches of the Israeli government, with Prime Minister Netanyahu angrily stating that Israel will not accept any “foreign dictates” about its borders and making clear that he thinks harping on settlements is absurd when there are more pressing regional problems such as the Syrian civil war and the Iranian nuclear program. In the meantime, government ministers are calling for retaliation against the EU such as limiting EU diplomats’ travel in the West Bank, and despite the fact that the new regulations appear not to be quite as far reaching as first reported and are only binding on EU institutions rather than on member states individually, this is a diplomatic crisis of first-rate proportions that is unlikely to die down anytime soon.
While the Israeli government appears to have been caught off-guard by this decision – which, by the way, is what happens when you eviscerate the Foreign Ministry and don’t even bother to appoint a separate Foreign Minister other than Netanyahu himself – it should have seen this coming a mile away. As Brent Sasley noted yesterday, this is only the latest signal in a long line of them that the international community in general and the EU in particular takes settlements seriously and sees them as a real and genuine obstacle to peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Now, the Israeli government and outside observers can rage all day that settlements are not the primary cause of the conflict, and there is a large measure of truth to this, but there are two important things to keep in mind. First, just because settlements may not have caused the conflict does not mean that they aren’t exacerbating it, and second, the key here is that Israel is suffering because much of the world believes that the settlements are indeed the main problem and will not be convinced otherwise. It is this second reason that is germane here, because as long as the EU, which is Israel’s largest trading partner, holds this view of things, Israel is going to deal with increasingly onerous efforts to get it to change its ways. The next step is going to be specially labeling goods produced in the settlements, or expanding these new regulations to cover trade rather than just grants, prizes, and financial instruments, or requiring settlers to get special visas to travel to EU countries. Israel can get as angry as it likes, but making reciprocal threats against the EU or loudly denouncing the Europeans as biased is going to get Israel absolutely nowhere, and it’s a shame that Netanyahu is still too blind to realize that what he is doing will not ease Israel’s burden one iota. I understand the Israeli government’s anger here, particularly when it comes to East Jerusalem, and I am certain that announcing these regulations just when it seems that John Kerry is on the verge of convincing the Palestinians to come back to the negotiating table without preconditions will doom those efforts entirely. After all, if the EU is now demanding that Israel acknowledge in agreements that the settlements are not part of Israel, why should Mahmoud Abbas negotiate that point with the Israelis at all?
Nevertheless, Israel has to deal with the situation as it is, not as it wishes it to be. In a perfect world as far as the Netanyahu government is concerned, the EU would focus its ire on Tehran for the violations of international agreements it has committed in its pursuit of its nuclear program and leave the settlements on the back burner. This, however, is wishful thinking, and the over the top admonishments and hectoring of the EU accomplishes absolutely nothing. If Netanyahu were smart, he would have downplayed this entire thing, kept his head down, and resumed working toward getting back to negotiating or even unilaterally withdrawing from the West Bank entirely. Instead, he made it crystal clear that Israel will not change its policies or back down in the face of pressure, and that nobody will lecture Israel on what it must do. That’s all fine and good, and Netanyahu can do whatever he pleases, but do not for one second think that Israel’s situation is going to improve absent some change of policy on its part. Netanyahu can either continue living in his fantasy land of griping and complaining about the rest of the world, or he can come to grips with the reality of things and work to improve his country’s international standing. Israel’s being singled out may not be fair and it may feel good to lash out against what the government sees as its tormentors, but being the grownup in the room means recognizing the situation for what it is, acknowledging that some things cannot be changed no matter how much you wish it otherwise, and figuring out the best solution for moving forward. This has nothing to do with blaming Israel, not recognizing the Palestinians’ agency, moral equivalence, rewarding bad behavior, or anything else; it is a simple reckoning of the world as it exists and trying to improve things within the parameters that Israel has been dealt. With regard to the dispute with the EU, let’s hope that Netanyahu has an epiphany on this sooner rather than later.
The EU thinks Israel is their slave and the EU are Israel’s slave masters.
EU.’s secret propaganda war against Israel.
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-Ed-Contributors/Europes-secret-NGO-wars-Who-is-anti-democratic-319836
Europe’s secret NGO wars: Who is anti-democratic?
By GERALD M. STEINBERG
07/14/2013
When Europe demanded Israel surrender the Western Wall.
The Jewish Quarter of the Old City, which has been Jewish a bit longer than the EU.”.
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.
My comments.
The EU wants to help the Palestinians destroy all Jewish history in Jerusalem.
http://www.palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=8258
PA: Jews have no connection to Western Wall.
Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik.
Jan. 15, 2013
PA: “The Western Wall… no person
besides Muslims ever used it as a place of worship, throughout all of history”.
The Palestinian Authority Minister of Religious Affairs, Mahmoud Al-Habbash, said recently that all of Jerusalem and the Western Wall are “the sole right of Palestinians.”
http://www.palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=8258
PA: Jews have no connection to Western Wall.
Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik.
Jan. 15, 2013
PA: “The Western Wall… no person besides Muslims ever used it as a place of worship, throughout all of history”.
The Palestinian Authority Minister of Religious Affairs, Mahmoud Al-Habbash, said recently that all of Jerusalem and the Western Wall are “the sole right of Palestinians.”
The Palestinians’ plight is due to their own fanaticism, hatred, intolerance and intransigence.
The reason the Palestinians do not accept any peace offers, no matter how generous as Barak and Olmert tried to do.
The Palestinian fascists need to see the Israelis suffering (either through physical annihilation or demographic submission) in order to feel good with themselves. Any win-win solution to the conflict cannot satisfy them, because it would leave the Israelis happy too, and the Palestinians are not interested in becoming happy, they want to make the Jews suffer.
Just look how many streets the Palestinian Arabs have named for terrorists who murdered Israeli civilians.
The Palestinians have run out of streets and are now naming park benches after terrorists!
How hard it is for the European leaders to go on Palmediawatch and see Abbas racist evil media against Jews?
http://www.palwatch.org
Maybe the reality is, the Europeans aren’t bothered when Abbas media glorifies the Sbarros Massacre, Disco Massacre, Passover Massacre, Munich Massacre, Maaalot massacre, 1978 Coastal Road massacre where Palestinian terrorists murdered 37 Israeli civilians.
“If Netanyahu were smart, he would have downplayed this entire thing, kept his head down, and resumed working toward getting back to negotiating or even unilaterally withdrawing from the West Bank entirely.”
Just what the Israelis need another Gaza terror state.
Do you really think Netanyahu plans to unilaterally withdraw from the West Bank? My understanding was that he neither believes in that ideologically, nor sees it as politically feasible.
No, I don’t. I raised the suggestion in the context of what I would consider were I in his position. But I agree that it is unlikely for him to undertake that move.
Abbas and other Fatah Rejectionists of these so-called “Palestinian” Arabs have no real intention or motivation for creating, developing or maintaining a state. They are welfare queens who make a fortune in easy handouts from the EU, UN and USA. Why should they exert any energy to become independent and lose all this easy cash? Plus after years of Abbas’s hate media calling Jews pigs and Apes and Abbas media glorifying slaughtering Jews as Palmediawatch has documented, only an Oslo leftist could think peace is possible with these psychos.