IsraPundit


The EU’s Not-Quite Settlement Boycott  

By Yair Rosenberg, TABLET, |July 16, 2013
The European Union has issued new guidelines for its cooperation with Israel which explicitly curtail its involvement in the Occupied Territories. Naturally, this has sparked a diplomatic firestorm. Prime Minister Netanyahu immediately condemned the regulations, which are set to be included in the 2014-2020 EU financial framework, saying “we will not accept any external dictates regarding our borders. That issue will be decided only in direct negotiations between the sides.”
So, just how earth-shattering are these guidelines? Tablet has acquired the official document containing the regulations, published today by the European Union, and we’ve spoken to an EU diplomat with close knowledge of its contents and drafting. As it turns out, there’s a lot less in these guidelines than most press coverage would have you believe. Here’s why:
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EU says Israelis overreacting to anti-settlement measures  

By STUART WINER, TOI, July 17, 2013,
A senior European Union representative in Israel on Wednesday sought to downplay the significance of new measures that target Israeli institutions in the West Bank.
“If people knew what it was really about, they would be much less upset,” Sandra De Waele, EU first counsellor, told The Times of Israel, stressing that the regulations did not apply to trade agreements or the marketing of products from the West Bank.
De Waele clarified that the directive offers guidelines that apply to grants, awards, and prizes funded by the European Union itself, and not to funding from individual member states. In addition, she pointed out, the guidelines merely reiterate what has been EU policy for years.
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The baseless hatred of the EU towards Israel  

Consternation in Israel over the EU’s malicious decision to boycott individuals or institutions situated over the ‘Green Line’ between Israel and the disputed territories. This would presumably include boycotting, for example, the Hebrew University which is just over that line or, even more grotesquely, Jewish residents in Jerusalem’s Old City – where ancient Jewish settlement far predated the arrival of a single Arab, dating as it does since King David who built it as the capital of the kingdom of the Jewish people.
The EU says Israeli settlements beyond the Green Line are illegal under international law. Nothing new there – so do the UN and associated bodies say so. But they are simply wrong.
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Settler leaders: Israel should ban EU projects in Area C and accept the Levy Report  

The government should ban European Union-funded projects in Area C of the West Bank until the EU rescinds its new policies against areas across the pre- 1967 lines, the Council of Jewish Communities of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip said on Tuesday.
“All European projects in Judea and Samaria should be stopped until this unilateral decision is rescinded,” the council stated.
It was one of a number of calls by settler and rightwing organizations that urged the government to take a no-holds-barred approach to combating the EU’s anti-settlement stance.
Gush Etzion Regional Council head David Perl called on Israel to annex Area C.
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Ted Belman
Jerusalem, Israel