EU blasts Israel on discrimination

Thu Dec 29, 2011 9:42PM

 

Thousands of Arabs in Israel attend a demonstration to mark Land Day in the town of Arrabe, near the coastal city of Haifa on March 30, 2011. 

 

European Union (EU) envoys in Israel have criticized Tel Aviv's maltreatment of Arabs living in Israel, a report on the human rights violations says.

"While the international community is focused predominantly on restarting the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, we should see Israel's treatment of its minorities as a core issue, not second tier to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," the confidential 27-page study obtained by AFP on Thursday said.

The report says Arabs living in Israel are worse off than non-Arabs in terms of income, education, housing and access to land.

A draft of the report dated November 2011 stated that Israel's “security policies” clearly target Arabs.

The EU often publishes reports on worsening human rights situation in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, but this is its first report on the 1.37 million Arabs that make up more than 20 percent of Israel's population.

The Arabs in Israel are the remainder, or descendants, of Palestinians who did not leave their land after “Israeli Declaration of Independence” in 1948, known as Yawm an-Nakbah, or day of the catastrophe among the Palestinians.

In 1948, the Tel Aviv regime forced 760,000 Palestinians out of their homeland to the West Bank and Gaza Strip, neighboring Arab states as well as to many other countries in the world, and hundreds of Palestinian villages were depopulated and destroyed.

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http://www.presstv.ir/detail/218399.html

EU Warns Israel Against Connecting Ma’ale Adumim With Jerusalem

Friday December 23, 2011 13:23 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

The European Union warned the Israeli government against creating a geographical contiguity between the Ma’ale Adumim settlement and occupied East Jerusalem by constructing a new settlement in the area.

Ma'ale Adumim - Arabs48

EU envoy, Andrew Stanley, submitted an official document in this regard to the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

The EU said that Israel is demolishing Palestinian homes in Area A, an area Israel intends to use for establishing a settlement that would create a chain between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim.

Stanley stated that the EU is extremely concerned regarding the new Israeli plan, and demanded explanations on the issue.

The EU stance was made after several EU countries, members of the Security Council, including Germany and Italy, denounced the escalated settlement activities in the West Bank and Jerusalem, and the sharp rise in settler attacks against the Palestinians and their property.

Recently, Jerusalem Mayor, Nir Barkat, said that Israel must cede East Jerusalem Palestinian areas that are now behind the Annexation Wall. Such an issue would isolate the residents from their work places, educational facilities, medical facilities and all other aspects of their daily life.

Experts in issues related to the Wall and Settlements stated that all initial indications point to the Israeli intentions to create two networks of roads that would separate Palestinian and Israeli traffic from each other.

One network would link between West and East Jerusalem, from Jerusalem to Ma’ale Adumim in East Jerusalem, and from the north to the south in order to link settlements in the northern part of the West Bank with Jerusalem and other settlements in the southern part of the West Bank.

The experts also believe that the second network of roads would be used by the Palestinians linking Ramallah with Bethlehem, and in the future linking the southern areas of West Jerusalem with the Jericho area via a bypass road that keeps Palestinian traffic from approaching Ma’ale Adumim.

The EU said that such projects would foil any chances for the two-state solution. The United States also expressed its ‘rejection’ to the Israeli plan, adding that the plan would not only block Palestinian geographical contiguity, but also leads to the collapse of the efforts to reach a final status peace agreement.

Israeli daily, Haaretz, report that the EU stance was made two weeks ago during a meeting between the 27 EU member countries.

The EU stated that there is a sharp rise in the number of homes demolished by Israel in area C of the West Bank, and pointed out the deteriorating economic situation of the Palestinian population in the area.

During the meetings, detailed reports submitted by a number of human rights organizations, revealed that Israel intends to remove 2500 Palestinians from Al Jahaleen area, an issue that raised concerns regarding Israeli intentions to prepare the Palestinian lands in order to be used settlement activities around Ma’ale Adumim settlement.

Two weeks ago, European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Kristalina Georgieva, sent a letter for Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, expressing concern regarding the forced eviction of Bedouins from Area 1, and expressing fears that Israel wants to build a new settlement neighborhood in Ma’ale Adumim.

But Israel claims that it is evicting the Bedouins “in order to resettle them”, and denied any relation between their removal and any settlement activities in the area.
Barkat is trying to officially approve the Annexation Wall as the border of Jerusalem, “the united capital of Israel”.

Israeli daily, Haaretz, reported that a source at Barkat’s office stated that the municipality created a plan to transfer all services provided to Arab neighborhoods that became behind the Annexation Wall, in East Jerusalem, to be run under “Civil Administration”. The Civil Administration is run by the Israeli military.

Israel recently transformed the Shufat roadblock into a border terminal, an issue that effectively removed 70.000 Palestinians out of the boundaries of Jerusalem.

The plan to create the network of roads that would link Ramallah with Bethlehem aims at convincing international powers that that the new plan will not block the geographical contiguity of the Palestinian territories.

 
http://www.imemc.org/article/62721

Israel says EU 'losing credibility'

In response to harsh condemnation of settler attacks on Palestinians, Foreign Ministry says European members of Security Council should focus on Iran nuclear threat and Syria. Livni: Israel waging war against biggest allies Ynet   Latest Update:  12.21.11, 23:59 / Israel News In another response to a strong European condemnation of Israel's construction in the West Bank and attacks by settlers on Palestinians, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday "if instead of contributing to stability in the Middle East (European Union members of the UN Security Council) are investing their efforts in inappropriate bickering with with the one country in which the independent law justice system knows how to deal with lawbreakers, then they are losing their credibility and making themselves irrelevant." On Tuesday European Union members of the 15-nation body demanded strong action by the Israeli government to halt the attacks and said the settlements "send a devastating message" about Israel's intentions. The Israeli Foreign Ministry urged the EU members of the UNSC to concentrate on "peacemaking in bloodshed hotspots such as Syria, on instilling democracy and moderation in Arab countries aspiring to freedom, and on defusing the global danger embodied in the Iranian nuclear race. "The European UNSC members have chosen to do what is easy and unnecessary, rather than muster their courage and do that which is difficult and necessary,” the ministry said. 'Price tag' spray-painted on mosque near Hebron (Photo: B'Tselem) The Foreign Ministry also called on the EU members to support the "resumption of the direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians according to the Quartet's outline, which Israel had adopted despite the Palestinians' objection." Israel further urged the European states to "adhere to the wording of the Quartet plan and refrain from giving it interpretations that contradict both the letter and the spirit of the original text. "This misreading only adds obstacles on the path towards resuming peace talks. Interfering with Israel's domestic affairs, including on issues which are to be solved within the framework of direct negotiations, does not enhance the status they wish to be granted," the Foreign Ministry's statement added. US: Condemnation won't restart peace talks Opposition leader Tzipi Livni blasted the Foreign Ministry statement, saying "Israel is waging war against its biggest allies in Europe." Livni claimed that the government's policies can be viewed as compromising to the state's security. "Without legitimacy in the world we could never act against terror, as we did in the past," she said. Construction in Har Homa (Photo: Lowshot website) "Currently there is no confidence in the prime minister, and the situation could compromise the way our allies view Israel." In response to the Foreign Ministry's statement, European Union diplomats told Ynet that the condemnation was directly mainly at Israel's settlement construction policy. "There is concern and a lot of frustration surrounding the Israeli government's policy on this issue," one diplomat said. "We are very worried about the amount of construction permits (in the West Bank) The diplomat said similar condemnations have been issued in the past. "We recognize Israel's efforts to stop the 'price tag' assailants. The main issue that concerns us is settlement construction," the diplomat added. Over the past few weeks European officials have expressed their concern over the future of Israel and the peace process. "We don’t know what Israel wants anymore or how it's future will look," a senior official said. "The continuation of settlement construction will lead to one state for two peoples. We don't know where this government is leading (Israel) to or what its position is regarding the peace process." India, Brazil and South Africa launched their own condemnation after a Security Council meeting on Israeli-Palestinian developments. Russia's UN envoy questioned Israel's commitment to a two-state solution to the conflict. Britain, France, Germany and Portugal – EU representatives on the council – said in a statement that they were "dismayed by these wholly negative developments." Following the condemnation, Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations Ron Prosor published a statement in which he slammed the Security Council. He said that while innocent people are being slathered in Syria, terrorists roam freely in Gaza, UN personnel are attacked in Lebanon and Iran is developing a nuclear weapon, the Security Council keeps silent. The White House stressed that it hasn't joined a UN Security Council condemnation of Israeli settlement construction because it does not believe that Security Council declarations are the way to restart talks between Israel and the Palestinians. State Department Spokesperson Victoria Nuland said that Israel knows Washington's position on the issue, and the best way to deal with the conflict is for the two sides to resume direct negotiations.   AFP, Yitzhak Benhorin and Attila Somfalvi contributed to the report

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4165126,00.html