Where Is EU’s Diktat To PA To Transform

Hatred/Violence-Promoting Culture?

The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has criticized the European Union’s (EU) pressuring Israel’s incoming Netanyahu Government to accept the idea of a “two-state solution.” The EU has warned Israel that ties with Israel would suffer if he did not accept Palestinian calls for statehood.

Earlier this month, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana warned that the bloc may reevaluate its ties with Israel if the incoming government isn’t committed to a two-state solution saying, “Let me say very clearly that the way the European Union will relate to an [Israeli] government that is not committed to a two-state solution will be very, very different … [we will] be ready to do business as usual, normally, with a government in Israel that will continue talking for a two-state solution.” (‘EU warns Israel on two-state issue,’ Jerusalem Post, March 28, 2009).

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that “We Europeans are insisting that whatever the weighting is in the two governments [Israeli and Palestinian], the creation of a two-state solution must stand first and foremost.” Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU, said that , “Relations would become very difficult indeed. At one of our next ministerial meetings we would have to discuss what consequences the EU would draw from that.” Luxembourg’s Jean Asselborn said a long-mooted upgrading of EU-Israeli trade and political ties depended on Israel achieving a peace deal with the Palestinians and that “We must tell the Israelis that it is not allowed to walk away from the peace process … The upgrading process was always to be viewed from the perspective of the peace process having been completed.” (‘EU warns Netanyahu over stalled peace process,’ Haaretz, March 28, 2009).

ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “The recent assertion by the EU that it seeks to dictate the terms of a peace settlement to Israel is blatant intervention in the affairs of Israel. It is for Israel, not the EU, to decide whether a Palestinian state solution is compatible with Israel’s security and national interests. The EU acts as though what Israelis think of the idea of creating a Palestinian state under current conditions is a matter of no relevance. They also do not explain how Palestinian statehood is to be established when a major section of the territory in question – Gaza – is ruled by Hamas, which says it will never agree to peace with Israel and calls for the murder of Jews in its charter.

“The purpose of the Oslo agreements was to see if Palestinians were ready for a state by fighting and jailing their terrorists and ending the incitement to hatred and murder in their society. The late Yitzhak Rabin was very clear on this point – he regarded it as a reversible experiment and said repeatedly that a Palestinian failure to transform its society into a peaceful one would result in Israel giving up on the process. The process indeed failed and Palestinian society is more extreme and violence-probe than when he said those words. By telling Israel to accept this state of affairs, the EU is really saying that the Oslo agreements and roadmap are irrelevant and that Palestinians should get statehood no matter what they do.

“If a Palestinian state was to be established next door to one of the EU countries, in the near-certainty that it would be a corrupt, terror-promoting state which will also be beggar state, dependent on an infusion of billions of dollars, would the EU leaders agree to this? Of course, not – yet that is what they are demanding of Israel.

“Statehood is not a silver bullet that will solve Palestinian extremism. Syria, Iran and North Korea are all states – are they lovely and peaceful? Palestinian statehood at this stage will merely entrench further the extremist agenda that drives them.

“The EU should be reminded that it strongly urged the massive Israeli territorial and other concessions of the Oslo years. It has also heavily funded the terror-supporting Palestinian Authority (PA) without demanding its compliance with it Oslo obligations to end terrorism and incitement to hatred and murder and arrest terrorists. It therefore bears no small responsibility for prolonging the Palestinian terror war and insulating the PA from making the decisions to end terrorism and incitement and to reform Palestinian society that alone can bring about a genuine peace.

“Under current conditions, a Palestinian state would be simply another terrorist regime enjoying sovereignty, the ability to form alliances and import weaponry and further its unchanged, unreconstructed agenda of eliminating Israel. Until the Palestinians fulfill their 15 year old obligations to end terrorism and incitement, there should be no discussions with or rewards for the PA – and that includes Israel committing itself to creating a Palestinian state.”