[southnews] New EU foreign chief criticizes Israel
Dave Muller
on the Middle East to criticize Israel, observers say. Ashton, in a
speech Tuesday to the EU Parliament in Strasbourg, France, came down
hard on the Israeli government, the EUobserver reported.
"East Jerusalem is occupied territory together with the West Bank. The
EU is opposed to the destruction of homes, the eviction of Arab
residents and the construction of the separation barrier," she told
MEPs, characterizing Israel's move to impose a 10-month freeze on Jewish
settlement expansion outside the city as only "a first step.
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EU's new foreign relations chief criticises Israel
ANDREW RETTMAN
16.12.2009 @ 09:35 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The EU's new foreign relations chief, Catherine
Ashton, criticised Israel in her first speech on the Middle East and
unveiled plans to visit the region in the New Year.
Described recently by one Israeli lobbyist as a "tabula rasa" who will
be easy to influence because of her lack of foreign policy experience,
Ms Ashton came down hard on the Israeli government in an address to MEPs
in Strasbourg on Tuesday (15 December).
"East Jerusalem is occupied territory together with the West Bank. The
EU is opposed to the destruction of homes, the eviction of Arab
residents and the construction of the separation barrier," she said on
Israeli activity in the city, which is holy to both Jews and Muslims.
Ms Ashton called Israel's recent decision to temporarily freeze
settlement growth outside Jerusalem a "first step," in a cooler tone
than EU foreign ministers who last week took "positive note" of the move.
"We're deeply concerned about the daily living conditions of people in
Gaza," she added on Israel's blockade of aid shipments to the strip.
"Israel should reopen the crossings without delay."
Her speech, which fits in with the Arab-friendly British foreign office
tradition, was also significant for what it left out: Ms Ashton did not
say that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, that it faces
a security threat from Palestinian "terrorists" or that Palestinians
should immediately return to formal peace talks - the classic tenets of
Israeli supporters.
The EU's new foreign relations chief had a dig at the Quartet's special
envoy to the region, Tony Blair, who has been markedly invisible in the job.
"The Quartet [a special group set up by the US, EU, UN and Russia] must
demonstrate that it is worth the money, that it is capable of being
reinvigorated. I have talked about this with both sides in Jerusalem, to
Mr Blair and the [US] secretary of state," she said.
Ms Ashton's office said that she plans to travel to the Middle East to
meet leaders in late January or early February, with Bosnia, Afghanistan
and Iran also high on her agenda.
The MEPs' debate saw a number of deputies from the left and liberal side
of the house call for punitive measures against Israel, ranging from a
suspension of the EU's Association Agreement to trade penalties against
exports originating in settlements.
Irish centre-left member Proinsias De Rossa, who visited the West Bank
last week, called Israeli treatment of Arabs in the occupied territories
a form of "apartheid."
Meanwhile, Dutch right-wing deputy Bastiaan Belder, who chairs the
parliament's Israel delegation, said that his contacts in Congress in
the US think the EU is "mad" to interfere in the Middle East's internal
discussions on the future status of East Jerusalem.
Ms Ashton side-stepped the calls for anti-Israeli sanctions but picked
up on an institutional question of whether she will sit in the EU
commission's benches or next to the EU rotating presidency in future
Strasbourg briefings.
"You'll have to build me a seat equidistant to both because I am sure
I'll get into trouble with someone wherever I sit," she said, on the
subject of her divided loyalties in Brussels.
http://euobserver.com/24/29167
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