The wave of Palestinian violence, now in its fourth month, has been fueled by various factors including frustration over the 2014 collapse of peace talks and the growth of Jewish settlements on land Palestinians seek for a future state.
Advertisement
“The EU and its member States are committed to ensure continued, full and effective implementation of existing EU legislation and bilateral arrangements applicable to settlements products”, ministers said in a statement. As Peace Now points out, depicting the EU’s policy as anti-Israeli or anti-Semitic is absurd. In a statement accompanying the decision, the foreign ministers said the move was not a boycott of Israel and the European Union strongly objects to any boycotts of Israel.
Israel’s foreign ministry called the report “one-sided”, and said it “jeopardises the livelihoods of thousands of Palestinians and discourages rare examples of coexistence, co-ordination and co-operation between Israelis and Palestinians”. A Palestinian attacker stabbed and wounded a pregnant Israeli woman in the West Bank before being shot, Israeli…
Israel cited recent alleged stabbing attacks against settlers – residing in the occupied West Bank contrary to global law – as reasons for refusing to provide passes, which are issued on a day-to-day basis.
Israel’s government has come under heavy pressure over the spate of attacks, and Sunday’s killing was likely to further raise tensions.
The Israeli defence body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, Cogat, said 26,000 Palestinians employed at settlements would be affected by the restrictions announced on Tuesday.
Palestinian labourers who seek work inside Israel must go through extensive security checks, and endure long hours at Israeli crossings.
Shapiro added that the two-state solution is the only way to prevent Israel from turning into a bi-national state, and said a way must be found to preserve its viability.
Sources told The Guardian that Greece was unhappy with the EU labeling initiative but authorities in the country eventually bowed to European and Palestinian diplomatic pressure.
Israel is hoping that in any final agreement with the Palestinians it will be able to keep large settlement blocs close to Jerusalem and the Israeli border, as well as in the Jordan Valley, for security and agricultural purposes.
Advertisement
“If these employers truly cared about the financial wellbeing of Palestinians, they should be lobbying their own government to lift its discriminatory restrictions and end its settlement policies”, she said.
