T. Belman. I am sure many Israelis are not prepared to stand up to Europe on the question of Ma’aleh Adumin or E-1. Nor are they willing to incur the wrath of the Trump team should Israel not come to an understanding with the US. All of which means we are not masters in our own house. I think we have to lean on Trump hard to get a livable deal on construction and on annexation of settlement blocks. That deal should consider Gush Etzion and Maaleh Adumin as settlement blocs. What the EU says doesn’t matter. We should drive a hard bargain even if that means we don’t come to a deal. In the meantime we should build in Jerusalem full speed and elsewhere at a slower speed until we have an agreement. A lack of an agreement means we we can build. Trump will want to get on with the peace process so he will be anxious to get going.
“It would have a strong detrimental impact on our relations,” Mark Gallagher, the Charge D’Affaires for the EU embassy in Israel, cautioned on Tuesday.
BY TOVAH LAZAROFF, JPOST MARCH 22, 2017
The European Union on Tuesday warned Israel that annexing the West Bank settlement of Ma’aleh Adumim would damage the Jewish state’s diplomatic ties with the union.
“It would be seen very negatively by the EU. It would have a strong detrimental impact on our relations,” said Mark Gallagher, who is the Charge D’Affaires for the EU embassy in Israel. Gallagher made the remark at the conference “The Arab Peace Initiative at 15-years,” which was held at the Hebrew University.
“It is no secret that those relations have come under a certain amount of strain due to the same settlement expansions and the Regulation Law,” he said, referencing the new Settlements Law the Knesset passed in February, which retroactively legalizes settler homes on privately-owned Palestinian property and offers to compensate the Palestinian landowners.
“We do not want to see unilateral moves taken now at this very sensitive time,” Gallagher said.
He spoke in response to a question by The Jerusalem Post about a legislative drive by right-wing politicians to annex Ma’aleh Adumim.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu managed to sway the politicians to delay the legislation until the Knesset’s next session in May.
UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov warned that an annexation of Ma’aleh Adumim would spark renewed Palestinian violence against Israelis.
“What is most dangerous is not just the fact that this will break international law and Israel will be in violation of a number of its obligations,” Mladenov said.
“Such a step is likely to spiral violence and I do not think that is what anyone wants,” Mladenov said.
“The situation among Palestinians is very tense. People are angry.
As much as Israelis are resigned to the fact that peace efforts have not brought peace, Palestinians are angry that peace efforts have not brought about statehood,” he stressed.
While these remarks came as warnings, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman at The Meir Dagan Conference in the Netanya Academic Conference said he believed that settlement activity had already harmed Israeli-EU ties.
He warned the EU would move against Israel later in the year after number of major leadership elections on that continent are over.
“After this long election period — I understand from talks with friends in Europe and Brussels — we can expect a [diplomatic] assault by the EU against Israel.
“You don’t need any [special] information to know this. You just have to read the official statements and all the debates in the EU Parliament, that you can find on the foreign ministry websites,” he said.
Liberman himself lives in the West Bank settlement of Nokdim and supports settlement activity.
However, he has warned against the drive by right-wing politicians to annex Area C of the West Bank, starting with Ma’aleh Adumim.
He told the audience at the Meir Dagan Conference that he has received phone calls from Washington anting to know about this legislation and he told them that there was zero chance it would pass the Knesset.
At Hebrew University MK Tzipi Livni (Zionist Union) said that annexation of Area C of the West Bank was a defects-way of recognizing the Palestinian right of return.
Palestinians living in the annexed territory would have be given citizenship, whereas in a negotiated two-state solution those same Palestinians would become citizens of a Palestinian state, she said.
@ Sebastien Zorn:
I meant, “If the Pals violate the peace…”
@ Sebastien Zorn:
https://www.algemeiner.com/2016/11/18/president-rivlin-india-is-israels-most-important-trade-partner/
@ dreuveni:
Another lone voice of reason.
Anybody remember “Oh, if the PLO doesn’t violates the peace, things will go back to where they were?”
Anybody remember the UN “peacekeeping” troops that politely stepped aside when Nasser asked them to?
Anybody remember the Left blaming Sharon setting foot on Israel’s holiest site for the Palestinian terror war?
Did anybody condemn Jordan for threatening to revoke the peace treaty if Jews were allowed to pray on the Temple Mount or releasing the mass murderer of Jewish children?
The EU isn’t even an important trading partner anymore. Who cares what they think? Israel doesn’t need them. They are enemies.
“Build, baby, build.”
The Euroantisemites do not want to see a safe and secure IL! They are Judeophobic.
The so-called diplomatic assult by the EU against Israel will come whither Maale Adumim is annexed or not. Actually, they can’t wait and are only held back by the hope that the new governments will be even more willing to support the assult.
Go for it now and don’t stop with Maale Adumim.
“…at this very sensitive time”. says the EU. That’s a really bad joke for dummies. When will the times be less sensitive? Let me guess… when the fakestinians become peace lovers? We better wait seated… it could take a few decades (my best guess is 40 years)until the mighty EU can be satisfied, and we can be finally sovereign. How much longer will we pay attention to that vanishing mockery of a western civilization? It’s already Eurabia. How much better can become? When they are like ISIS or Hamas?
@ WoolyMammoth:
How do you say, “well, duh!” in modern Hebrew?
Israelis should tell this international socialist, government bureaucrat that they do want to see EU countries making unilateral moves.
Beduins are the so-called land claimants to Ma’aleh Adumin. Since when do nomatics have land claims? In Bersheva, they roam around and refuse to settle down, but when it serves Palestinian interests, they become landowners. How is this possible? In the mind of John Dugard, the SA legalist in Roman-Dutch laws, not relevantto the area of Common Law and Ottoman Law, comes up with a story about apartheid’ and it sticks and now we continue to act upon it? Clear the land titles in court and move forward. Use the Doctrine of Waste to pay them off and move on.
What is most dangerous is not just the fact that this will break international law and Israel will be in violation of a number of its obligations,” Mladenov
which international law? which obligations??
MK Tzipi Livni (Zionist Union) said that annexation of Area C of the West Bank was a defects-way of recognizing the Palestinian right of return.
explain
Palestinians living in the annexed territory would have be given citizenship? explain why. citizenship is not a right it’s earned.
I’ve paid municipal ISRAEL tax for 14 years why have I not been given citizenship?
Ted,
It is really simple. Abbas will never end incitement. Forget it. Israel has to plan on new expanded borders. Just implement it.