EU hits at Israeli policies in East Jerusalem
By Sharmila Devi
Published: November 24 2005 17:46 | Last updated: November 24 2005 17:46
 
The European Union has severely criticised Israeli policies in east Jerusalem, saying they demonstrate a clear intention to consolidate Israel’s annexation of the Arab half of the city. The criticisms are in a report presented to EU foreign ministers this week but not yet publicly released.

 
Israel expressed serious concerns about the report, which came as EU monitors prepare for the opening of a passenger terminal at Rafah on the Gaza-Egyptian border this weekend under a deal recently brokered by the US. It will give Gazans greater freedom of movement since the Israeli withdrawal earlier this year.

EU foreign ministers are set to discuss the report on December 12. It was prepared by British and EU representatives in Jerusalem and Ramallah. Britain currently holds the EU presidency.

Israel said the report amounted to an anti-Israel position.

It annexed east Jerusalem after capturing the territory in the 1967 war. Most western countries, including the US and EU members, have their embassies in Tel Aviv and consulates in Jerusalem.

Israel was particularly irritated by recommendations in the report that the EU should “organise political meetings with the PA [Palestinian Authority] in east Jerusalem, including meetings at the ministerial level” rather than in Ramallah as at present. Israel shut down Palestinian political institutions in east Jerusalem in 2001.

Some 200,000 Jewish settlers live in east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as the capital of a future state. Few Israelis say they would relinquish control over the whole city, which they call their “undivided and eternal” capital.

But the EU report pointed to a number of Israeli policies it said “risked radicalising the hitherto relatively quiescent Palestinian population of east Jerusalem”. These include: the barrier around east Jerusalem, expansion of Jewish settlements, demolition of Palestinian homes, stricter enforcement of rules separating Palestinian residents in east Jerusalem from those in the West Bank, including a reduction of work permits, and discriminatory taxation.

“Clear statements by the EU and quartet [US, Russia, the United Nations and EU] that Jerusalem remains an issue for negotiation by the two sides, and that Israel should desist from all measures designed to pre-empt such negotiations, would be timely,” the report said.

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/a1cd7f40-5d10-11da-a749-0000779e2340.html