How the European Union obstructs peace between Israel and the Palestinians
Jim Sinkinson
Flame
September 29, 2020
Europeans have a long and sordid history in the Middle East, from the Crusades to their colonization during the 20th
century. Actions of European nations even to this day are guided by
arrogance, economic self-interest and obsession with preserving their
waning influence.
Europeans, during the last century, have been increasingly relegated from global Superpowers to bystanders in international diplomacy, while still clinging to economic vestiges in their former colonies, many of which are in the Middle East.
To maintain some sway, European powers have historically supported
competing parties and interests in a region with many centuries-old
conflicts. This, mixed with a long history of hatred and antagonism
toward Jews, and especially Jewish sovereignty, has engendered double standards in dealing with the State of Israel.
What’s more, while claiming the mantel of peacemakers, the Europeans
continue directly to fund regional initiatives that actually retard efforts toward peace.
Despite this interference, the Jewish state and its Arab neighbors are themselves demolishing previous barriers to friendship without help from European powers.
Even as relations between Israel and the Arabs warm, many European
nations are still trapped in the failed Oslo paradigm—demanding suicidal
Israeli concessions that often as not yield violent rejectionism from
the Palestinians.
Ironically, European demands and treatment of Israel stand in direct
opposition to their policies elsewhere around the world. While
continuing to insist on Israeli compromises, Europeans have rarely pressured Palestinian leadership to give up its ultimate goal of eliminating the one and only Jewish state.
These double standards shown by Europeans toward the Jewish state continue to embolden Palestinian recalcitrance and violence.
A great part of Europe’s role in the so-called “peace process” is to
provide funding and aid to the Palestinians, partly through the corrupt
and authoritarian Palestinian Authority, but also through Palestinian
civil organizations, many of whose aims are anything but peaceful
The European Union (EU) claims it only funds organizations and
initiatives that promote its values. Reality, however, contradicts those
assertions.
The EU’s Peacebuilding Initiative, a conduit for passing funds to
Palestinian organizations and initiatives, continues to fund official
Palestinian media channels, such as the Ma’an TV Network, which are openly anti-Semitic and glorify terrorism and murder of Israelis.
EU-funded organizations also act in opposition to official EU policy:
According to NGO Monitor, numerous EU-funded NGOs have ties to the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist
organization, and dozens of other EU-funded NGOs promote boycott
campaigns against Israel.
While the EU falsely refers to Israel’s presence in Judea and Samaria
as illegal under international law and stipulates that any agreement
between Israel and the EU not include Israeli business or interests over
the Green Line, this flatly contradicts its policies elsewhere.
One example of this contradiction: EU-Moroccan fisheries treaties
extend into the territory of Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara, which are
considered illegal by the international community.
Furthermore, the EU has consistently proposed trade deals with
Turkish-occupied Northern Cyprus, which have only been rejected because
of the Republic of Cyprus’ objection. However, the EU continues to fund
infrastructure projects for Turkish settlers in the illegally occupied territory in the north of the island.
Likewise, the EU has also long ignored corruption and funding for
terrorism in the amounts of aid it provides the Palestinian Authority.
The EU has not made its funding contingent on the Palestinian Authority ending its “pay for slay” payments to terrorists and their families.
The EU also ignores breaches in Palestinian commitments not to use European funds to promote incitement, terrorism and corruption.
In fact, one former European Union external affairs commissioner said
he needed a full European parliamentary inquiry into Palestinian
misbehavior "like a hole in the head".
The EU and the European Parliament also periodically express shock at
their own funding of Palestinian schoolbooks that have for decades
promoted racism and incitement against Israel—but the EU rarely conditions its aid on an end to the education to hate and violence.
Serbia and Kosovo recently signed a momentous agreement to normalize
relations with Israel, with a shared commitment by both nations to open
their embassies in Jerusalem. The EU immediately voiced " serious concern and regret"
over these pledges, and implicitly threatened that such a move could
imperil both Serbia’s and Kosovo’s ascension to EU membership.
Thus, the Europeans threaten to torpedo an expansion of their own
union, with all of its positive economic and social implications, merely
because it would necessitate a potential member state recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Europe rarely, if ever, inserts itself into disagreements over whose capital should be recognized.
Why does the EU persist in undermining peace in the Middle East?
The first reason is demographic. As Europe’s Muslim and Arab populations continue to grow, reaching a quarter and even a third
of the total populace in some areas, politicians who wish to be elected
must ingratiate themselves to these populations by taking anti-Israel
positions. It is simply a matter of math that these populations can
swing a constituency, whereas no country in Europe has more than a
couple percent of Jews.
Another factor is pure diplomatic and economic interests. In
international forums, the Muslim and Arab blocs are dozens of nations
strong, and to appease them at the cost of one Jewish state is a simple
trade-off. Furthermore, around 60% of the world’s natural resources can be found in Muslim countries.
Finally, one cannot discount anti-Semitism.
European nations and Europeans have a long and tragic history of
anti-Semitism. Expulsions, inquisitions, pogroms, targeted
restrictions—all culminating in the Holocaust—amply demonstrate the
place that the Jew has held in European society. The Jewish state is demonized, delegitimized and has double standards
applied against it by the Europeans in ways similar to those used for
centuries against Jews of ancient, medieval and modern Europe.
These are just some of the multitude of factors that motivate unfair
and destructive European policy toward Israel in general and the
Israel-Palestinian conflict specifically.
These actions have not only perpetrated almost three decades of failed
peace-making, but also encourage Palestinian maximalist demands and
violent rejectionism.
