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EU will require Israel to explicitly exclude territories beyond the Green Line from all agreements with the union.(Photo: Settlement construction, by: Activestills)
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New European Union directive prohibits involvement in illegal Israeli settlements

by Shamus Slaunwhite - IMEMC & Agencies

The European Union has issued a directive forbidding its 28 member countries from funding or participating in projects that are located within illegal Israeli settlements. The new directive, however, does not apply to trade between the EU and Israel, so businesses operating in the illegal settlements would not be affected.

The legally binding directive will come into effect in 2014, and it forbids EU member states from issuing grants, scholarships, funding, and prizes to Israeli non-governmental and governmental organizations operating in settlements built illegally by Israel in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza, and the Golan. The directive requires that any agreements or contracts between an EU country and an Israeli organization include a clause stating that the project or institution receiving funding or assistance is not located in an illegal settlement. The European Union recognizes that Israeli settlements on occupied land are illegal according to international law.

A statement issued by the EU explained that, “the purpose of these guidelines is to make a distinction between the state of Israel and the occupied territories when it comes to EU support." The Israeli government will have to stipulate in future agreements with the EU that the settlements in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Golan are not a part of the State of Israel. Haaretz quoted an Israeli official as saying that the new EU guidelines are an “earthquake”, and Ze’ev Elkin, Israel’s deputy foreign minister, described the EU directive as a "big mistake.” Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi embraced the EU’s decision, saying that “[this] is the beginning of new era. Israel should listen carefully and should understand that this occupation cannot continue without any kind of accountability."

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The European Union's new guidelines stipulate that Israel must acknowledge East Jerusalem, West Bank and Golan as occupied territories before any future agreements signed with member states.

By Barak Ravid for Haaretz

Israel's relationship with the European Union has reached unprecedentedly strained level:

After a hasty and urgent meeting at his bureau on Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement blasting the European Union over its decision to condition future agreements with Israel on the latter's recognition of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights as occupied territories.

"We will not except any external edicts on our borders," Netanyahu said in a scathing response.

Haaretz revealed Thursday that the European Union published last month a guideline for all 28 member states forbidding any funding, cooperation, awarding of scholarships, research funds or prizes to anyone residing in the Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The regulation, which goes into effect on Friday, requires that any agreement or contract signed by an EU country with Israel include a clause stating that the settlements are not part of the State of Israel and therefore are not part of the agreement.

In response to the report, Netanyahu said that the European Union should focus on ending the civil war in Syria or halting Iran's nuclear program, rather than exerting energy on Israel's settlements.

"These problems are little more urgent," Netanyahu said. "They should these first."

"As the prime minister of Israel, I will not let anyone harm the hundreds of thousands of Israelis living in Judea and Samaria, in the Golan Heights, or in Jerusalem – our united capital," he said. "The issue of borders will be determined only in direct negotiations between the sides."

A senior Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, earlier Tuesday described the new ruling, which was published on June 30, as an "earthquake."

"This is the first time such an official, explicit guideline has been published by the European Union bodies," the senior official said. "Until today there were understandings and quiet agreements that the Union does not work beyond the Green Line [the pre-1967-war border]; now this has become a formal, binding policy."

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Can the EU's settlement exclusion push the U.S. to follow suit?

By Mairav Zonszein for 972Mag

The European Union announces that every agreement with Israel will have to explicitly exclude all territories beyond the Green Line. The U.S. also doesn’t recognize Israel’s settlements, but will the EU move create trans-Atlantic momentum?

The European Union will only enter cooperative agreements with Israel if it explicitly excludes the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza Strip and Golan Heights, Haaretz‘s Barak Ravid reported Tuesday. This means all Israeli government institutions and groups across Israel’s pre-1967 borders (the Green Line) will be automatically disqualified from receiving grants, funding, prizes or scholarships from the EU. In other words, Israel will be forced to recognize in writing, upon entering agreements with the EU, that the West Bank and East Jerusalem are not part of the state.

According to the Guardian the EU guidelines:

…set out the territorial limitations under which the Commission will award EU support to Israeli entities … Concern has been expressed in Europe that Israeli entities in the occupied territories could benefit from EU support. The purpose of these guidelines is to make a distinction between the State of Israel and the occupied territories when it comes to EU support.

An Israeli official who spoke to Haaretz called it an “earthquake” and Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Ze’ev Elkin not surprisingly condemned the move – to go into effect this Friday July 19 – as “a big mistake” that encourages Palestinians to avoid negotiations. According to The Jerusalem Post Housing Minister Uri Ariel called the move racist. “This is a decision marked with racism and discrimination against the Jewish People that is reminiscent of boycotts against Jews from over 66 years ago.” Settler leaders have responded by calling on the government to annex Area C the West Bank, and the Yesha Council (the settler political organization) has called on the state to ban all EU projects for Palestinians in Israel-controlled Area C. Meretz MK Zehava Gal-On insisted the move was not a boycott but rather a positive step that determines Israel’s borders, something the government has failed to do.

+972 asked the U.S. Embassy spokesperson in Tel Aviv for its reaction to the move, but said it had no comment. According to Barak Ravid however, a U.S. official warned that should Secretary of State John Kerry’s efforts at restarting negotiations fail, it is likely the EU will take even more measures against Israeli settlements. In this sense, the anonymous U.S. official was implying that Israel would be blamed for the deadlock in peace talks as a result of its continued settlement project.

The move made top headlines in Israeli media Tuesday morning – both in English and Hebrew – and was seen as a major rift to Israel-EU relations and to Israel’s economy specifically. But it should be noted that in effect, all the EU is doing is implementing a decision that reflects its longstanding policy, according to which the settlements are not part of Israel and that they are an obstacle to the two-state solution.

This has also been the U.S. stated policy for decades, so it seems only natural that it would follow suit – it will therefore be interesting to see if and how it responds. After all, if it supports the EU decision, the major question will be why the U.S. is not doing the same; and if the U.S. condemns it, the major question will be why it is condemning a move that reflects its own policy.