The EU is sticking its nose where it doesn’t belong. (Not that that’s anything new.) Howard Schneider of the Washington Post reports in Israel decries proposed E.U. stance on East Jerusalem:
Israel on Tuesday criticized a proposed statement by the European Union recognizing East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state — part of the country’s growing resistance to efforts to pressure it into reaching a peace deal with the Palestinians in the absence of direct, U.S.-sponsored talks.
The article also acknowledges:
Although Europe has long acknowledged Palestinian claims on Jerusalem — and, like the United States and others, does not recognize Israel’s annexation of the city’s Arab neighborhoods after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war — a direct call for a division of the city would take that policy a step further, according to European and Israeli officials.
The draft text does not include reference to any part of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and was condemned by Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor as “very harmful.” The statement “will not help to promote the peace process,” Palmor said. “It will only make the European Union’s position more marginal and less influential.”
(emphasis mine)
This is the EU’s policy on Jerusalem:
The EU policy on Jerusalem is based on the principles set out in the UN Security Council Resolution 242 , notably the impossibility of acquisition of territory by force. The EU opposes measures which would prejudge the outcome of the Permanent Status Negotiations, consigned to the third phase of the Road Map, such as actions aimed at changing the Palestinian character of East Jerusalem.
The economic and social development of East Jerusalem has seriously been affected by its exclusion from the Palestinian Authority’s development scheme laid out in the Oslo Accords and by the second Intifada, during which East Jerusalem has been effectively cut off from Palestinian communities and institutions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Of course, as with the UN the EU’s position effectively endorses the acquisition of territory by force – as long as it involves displacing Jews. For example, here’s a comparison between how Jordan in 1949 (in violation of the armistice agreement) and Israel in 1967 treated holy sites.
Jordan destroyed ancient synagogues in the Old City’s Jewish quarter:
• From the period of 1948 to 1967, Jordan demolished 58 synagogues in Jerusalem’s Old City.
• All but one of the ancient synagogues in the Old City were demolished and ravaged during this time by the Jordanians.
Jews had absolutely no access to the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest site:
• On April 3, 1949, Israel and Jordan signed an Armistice Agreement. One of the conditions of the GAA was that a special committee would be formed to make arrangements for safe movement of traffic between Jerusalem and the Mount Scopus campus of Hebrew University, as well as free access to Holy Places. The Jordanians, by denying access to Jews to enter the Old City and Judaism’s holiest sites, directly violated the GAA.
• Under the Jordanian control of East Jerusalem, Jews were denied access to the Western Wall and Temple Mount. Likewise, in Hebron, Jews were not allowed to enter the Tomb of the Patriarchs and other holy places in Bethlehem.
• Similarly, during Jordanian rule (and eventual annexation) of the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem from 1948 to 1967, Israeli Christians and Muslims were also barred from their own respective Holy Places.
Muslim waqf now controls workings of Temple Mount with important mosques, not Israelis:
• As a result of the Six Day War in 1967, Israel recovered the Old City and the entire Jordanian-held territory west of the Jordan River.
• Almost instantaneously, 19-year-old barriers once separating Jerusalem were removed so that all peoples of all religions could be allowed access to their holiest sites.
• To assure that any member of a respective religion will no longer be denied access to their holiest sites, the Knesset passed a law on June 27, 1967, guaranteeing free access to everyone and determining punishment for the desecration or denial of entry.
• From 1967 onward, the Muslim Waqf Administration is responsible for the al-Aqsa Mosque, the Dome of the Rock and all other mosques within Jerusalem.
o On several occasions, those praying at al-Aqsa then began pelting the Jews praying below at the Western Wall with stones and bricks.
o As a result, when tensions are high, Israel is occasionally forced to limit temporarily the age of those entering the Temple Mount compound for Friday prayers.
• As for other communities, Christians are placed in charge of administering their own holy sites, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Ministry of Religious Affairs of Israel is in charge of the Western Wall and other Jewish holy sites.
Much of Arab East Jerusalem is Arab because the Jordanians removed the Jews from those areas by force. The EU’s position is to validate that.
But that’s not the only hypocrisy in play here. Elder of Ziyon observes:
Isn’t it interesting that the same people who keep telling Israel that the separation fence is as awful as the Berlin Wall are insisting that Jerusalem be cut in half…just like Berlin was?
Treppenwitz sees a silver lining in an approach that even alienates Tzipi Livni.
Personally, I couldn’t possible care less what the world wants Israel to do. If we’ve learned only one thing during the short history of our country, it is that we are the only ones who will ever have our best interest at heart.
But more importantly, I honestly feel that the only thing that has a prayer of unifying the Jewish people (or at least unifying those living in Israel) is for nearly all of us to be labeled illegitimate by the international community.
Do you remember that climactic scene near the end of ‘Spartacus’ where the recaptured rebel slaves are asked to identify Spartacus in return for leniency? In a show of unity, they all began shouting “I am Spartacus!”… even though they knew it might very well cost them their lives?
Well, I have a fantasy about the world finally showing some honesty about their hate of Israel and demanding that Israel return to the Partition Plan borders in order to appease the ‘downtrodden’ Arabs.
And when that happens, people from Kiryat Gat, Ramle, Beer Sheva, Ashdod, Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh, Modi’in, Nahariya, Ashqelon, Afula, Beit She’an, and other vibrant, thriving Israeli cities, will rise up with one voice and shout, “I am from Gilo!… and my legitimacy is not a question for my enemies and their supporters to decide!”
As the world’s antipathy to Israel continues to be manifest by its double standards and distortions, is he right? Are we reaching a point where international enmity will encourage unity in Israel?
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
