 Brussels / Luisa Morgantini - The European Parliament Wednesday postponed the vote on the proposal by the European Union Commission and Council for the draft recommendation to conclude a Protocol to the EU-Israel Association Agreement and on the general principles governing the State of Israel's participation in Community programmes.
The vote was originally scheduled for Thursday in the EP in Brussels. This vote would have been an important step in the process of upgrading EU-Israel relations, which was requested by the Israeli Minister for Foreign Affairs, Tzipi Livni, during her hearing in the EP Committee on Foreign Affairs, within the framework of the Protocol for the Association Agreement between EU and Israel. However, the European Parliament voted differently: the majority of parliamentarians called for a postponement of the vote to another date yet to be determined, as requested by the GUE/NGL and Greens groups, with agreement from the Socialist Party, some of the Liberals (ALDE) and some MEPs from the Popular Party.
"It's time for the Israeli Government to stop considering itself above the law and start respecting it, beginning by freezing all settlement building activities and ending its siege on the Gaza Strip. Until the Israeli Government signals its willingness to abide by international law, and especially human rights and humanitarian law, the European Parliament is not disposed to vote," declared Luisa Morgantini, Vice President of the European Parliament.
"Today's vote is an important political message, directed not against Israel, but at pushing the Israeli leadership to respect their obligations in order to achieve tangible results from the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, so that they can reach a peaceful solution and the security of the two peoples. It is also a signal to the EU Council and Commission that they must put pressure on Israel to stop its colonization of the 1967 Occupied Palestinian Territory.
“But this vote is also a sign of hope for the Palestinians, telling them that the European Parliament is not deaf to the suffering of people in Gaza and the West Bank, and that the EP is not only determined to verbally criticize the situation but to take concrete action for the respect of human rights and international law.
“It is also an answer to Prime Minister Salam Fayyad who launched an appeal to the EU to not upgrade its relations with Israel since after Annapolis there have not been improvements, neither in lifting the closures on Palestinian areas nor in freezing settlements; it is also an answer to Palestinian civil society and to the NGOs that have sent many letters to European Parliamentarians.
“Finally this vote is positive for us Europeans, who are showing to ourselves and to the entire world that respect for human rights and the achievement of justice are not an abstract declaration of principles," concluded EP Vice President Luisa Morgantini.
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Comments: 8
To pressure Israel to "to achieve tangible results from the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations," makes it sound like its all up to Israel. Israel has thus far agreed to the concept of anothe Arab Palestinian state which for some reason it seems to go without saying will not have any Jews allowed. The Palestinians, even the 'moderate' PLO can't get itself to accept the existence of a jewish state which will have Arabs with full rights but will be essentially Jewish. Hamas won't accept anything other than a completely Arab state from the Jordan to the Meditaranean controlled by Sharia law. As the expression goes, it takes two to tango.
Don't you think withdrawing from Gaza, as one example, is at least the equivalent of stepping onto the dance floor?
Are you referring to the Palestinian Authority? Wasn't Israel negotiating with them? The Authority was in control of Gaza after Israel pulled out. Then Hamas took over - as the result of the free choice of a majority of the Arabs living in palestine. Hamas does not recognize Israel. It is honest and up front about its intentionss - Israel's destruction.
So actually Isrel did make the first move, a very substantial move. And got its teeth kicked in.
True, Hamas does not recognize Israel. I'm by no means advocating Hamas' actions. There needs to be a willingness on both sides make concessions, which is what Annapolis was about, and Israel hasn't really followed that most recent agreement. However, I feel that Israel is the one that is most powerful and most able to produce a sustainable peace. Hamas and the PA are too weak among their people to introduce anything that would appear like a weakness. Israel has the backing of the US, which means that they shouldn't be afraid of looking weak. If they give in a little bit in the name of human rights, they could easily be seen as the better state, which would give them more leverage internationally. Instead of starving the Palestinians out, they should give them no cause for terrorism, then the terrorists will probably lose all forms of international support.
It's a difficult issue, and I've spent a lot of time reviewing it. Not as much as some people, but quite a bit. Still, I don't see any end in sight unless we have an enforcable agreement. And if Israel is following international law, why not face international consequences, they aren't a baby anymore.
First to call the withdrawal from Gaza a "Lame political gesture" boggles the mind. Israel withdrew completely from Gaza, including uprooting dismantling settlements, forcibly removing thousands of families from homes in which they had lived for over thirty years, and even moving cemeteries. The army had to be mobilized, many millions of dollars were spent, theer were calls from some elements for the army to refuse orders, the resulting rift in Israeli society festers to this day. This was the moment
the Palestinians claimed to be waiting for - complete territorial
contiguity and not a single Israeli settler, roadblock, or military base
in sight. That is some impressive "gesture".
The result - Hamas claims to have been victorious and promises to complete the process of driving all the Jews out of Palestine. It takes control and subjects Israeli cities to constant bombardment.
Second, you claim that Israel was just following interntional law, implying that the Jewish towns in Gaza violated INternational LAw - as opposed I assume to Egypts occupation from 1948 to 1967 which did not. This is not correct. It is in fact a total misrepresentation of international law.
First, Article 2 of the Geneva Convention provides that the agreement
applies ‘to all cases of partial or total occupation of the territory of a
high contracting party’, or sovereign territory. Thus the Convention
cannot apply to the Gaza Strip nor to the West Bank, nor to East Jerusalem
for that matter, because these have never been recognized as sovereign
territory. As part of Mandatory Palestine, they never belonged to any
sovereign state but were occupied and administered illegally by Jordan and
Egypt between 1948 and 1967 after the Arab war of aggression against
Israel in 1948.
Second, Article 49 of the Geneva Convention provides that an occupying
power ‘shall not deport or transfer part of its own civilian population
into the territory it occupies.’ This was designed to prohibit inhumane
practices such as by the Nazis and the Soviets before and during the
Second World War in forcibly transferring or deporting people into or out
of occupied territories. But the Israeli settlers in Gaza and the West Bank went
there voluntarily. They have not been ‘deported’ or ‘transferred’ by the
government of Israel. The only force Israel has used is in getting them
out of Gaza. So clearly the Geneva Convention does not apply in any sense
to the West Bank settlements.
Third, Israel was ‘occupying’ the Gaza and the West Bank (which on a day-to-day basis was not ‘occupied’ but ruled by the Palestinians) entirely within its rights
under international law, which recognises the right of a country that has
been attacked to occupy and retain land that continues to be used for
belligerent purposes against it. Which is why the UN’s famous Resolution
242 was deliberately drafted to refer to Israel withdrawing from
‘territories’ rather than all the territories – and then only when the
Arabs end their war against Israel.
Fourth, the Gaza and the West Bank are not Palestinian land in any sense. As said before,
it was originally part of the British Mandate and then illegally occupied
by Egypt and Jordan. Nor have the settlers occupied individual Palestinians’ land,
but have mainly built on empty space. This is especially true in Gaza where the Israeli towns were built on land that had previously been unoccupied sand dunes.
Fifth and most important of all is something that is almost totally
overlooked. It is generally assumed that Israel’s claim to the Gaza and the West Bank
originated in 1967. Not so. Jews lived in many parts of it for centuries –
some of these places amongst the holiest of Jewish sites – and were
ethnically cleansed from it in the last century by Arab pogroms in places
like Hebron. It was in recognition of this, the historic and inalienable
connection of the Jews to this land, that the original Mandate for
Palestine – which included what is now the West Bank and Gaza – instructed
Britain to facilitate ‘close settlement’ by the Jews in the whole of
Mandate Palestine – a commitment which the British proceeded
systematically to betray – because of the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country.
As the late Eugene Rostow, the former US Under -Secretary of State for
Political Affairs who played a leading role in drafting Resolution 242,
repeatedly said , that legal undertaking has never been rescinded. It is
still legally binding. The UN charter explicitly stated that nothing in
that charter should abrogate any pre-existing international instruments.
Far from being illegally settled in the disputed territories, the Jews
have every right to be there under international law .
Third you seem to feel that Israel is so powerful that it has nothing to lose by making more and more cocessions in return for nothing. Try telling that to the citizens of Sederot who live under constant bombardemnt and whose government is powerless to do anything about it. Israel is not all powerful. It has enemies who want to destroy and if it is not very careful, they will
Again, I understand the difficulty faced by the people that live in dangerous areas of Israel. I have friends living there that I worry about every day. I also appreciate your understanding of the area. The British and French mandates in the middle east could easily be described as the worst ideas ever. People in Palestine actually voted to have the US govern them, but the US refused. This was shortly after world war one, when the US still had clout in the region.
I hope I haven't put you off and I enjoy reading your rebuttals. Thanks for keeping it alive. I am going to see if I can find any of your posts to look at.