Secret EU document outlines sanctions to impose if Israel thwarts two-state solution
Proposal
is still at early stage, but is said to offer far more ‘stick’ than
‘carrot’ to Israel if it makes a two-state solution unviable.
By Barak Ravid | Nov. 16, 2014 | 6:30 AM | 24 Haaretz.
A
settler looking at Ma'aleh Adumim from the E1 area. The EU sees any
further settlement building in E1 as a red line. Photo by AP
The
European Union has distributed a confidential document to its 28 member
states that contains the draft of a proposal for sanctions to be
imposed on Israel if it takes action in the West Bank that could make
the two-state solution impossible, European diplomatic sources and
senior Israeli officials said.
The
representatives, who received the document from the EU’s European
External Action Service (EEAS), were asked to keep its distribution
limited and not to show it to Israel yet. Israeli diplomats in a number
of European capitals reported the existence of the document to the
Foreign Ministry, adding a few details about its content. However, they
were unable to obtain the full document.
Three
European diplomats and two senior Israeli officials, all of whom spoke
on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said
the document deals mainly with “sticks and carrots” for Israel with
regard to maintaining the two-state solution, although they said the
document contained mainly sticks.
“The
peace process is in deep freeze, but the situation on the ground is
not. There is big frustration in Europe and zero tolerance for
settlement activity. This paper is part of the internal brainstorming
being done in Brussels these days, about what can be done to keep the
two-state solution alive,” a European diplomat familiar with the details
of the discussion around the document said.
According
to current EU policy, any upgrading or development of ties to Israel is
conditioned on actions it might carry out to advance the peace process
and the two-state solution. The principle in the new document is that
the EU will respond with sanctions and restrict its ties with Israel in
response to actions that could make the two-state solution impossible.
European
diplomats familiar with the document say it discusses Israeli actions
that would constitute a red line for the EU. For example, it mentions
advancement of construction in the E1 area between Ma’aleh Adumim and
Jerusalem; construction of the Givat Hamatos neighborhood and additional
construction in Har Homa south of Jerusalem, both of which are over the
Green Line in Jerusalem. The EU believes that such construction puts at
risk territorial contiguity of the Palestinian state and might make it
impossible for Jerusalem to be the capital of both states.
Sanctions
mentioned by the document include marking products manufactured in the
settlements in EU supermarkets; limiting cooperation with Israel in
various areas; and even restrictions on the free-trade agreement with
Israel.
The
document is in the initial stages of discussion. So far, it been
discussed in two meetings of the Mashreq/Maghreb Working Party (or
MaMa), which consists of diplomats from all EU countries who are
specialists in the Middle East. “This paper is an uncooked dish and the
process is only beginning, but it is slowly continuing,” a senior
European diplomat told Haaretz.
The EU’s embassy in Israel declined to respond to Haaretz’s queries on the subject.
The
document itself, and the great secrecy surrounding it, have led to
concerns in Jerusalem. EU diplomats and senior Israeli officials noted
that the framer of the document is Christian Berger, the director for
Middle East of the EEAS. The Austrian was also behind EU sanctions
against settlements in July 2013.
Senior
Foreign Ministry officials said Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman
raised the issue of the document in his talks with the EU’s new high
representative for foreign affairs, Federica Mogherini, two weeks ago in
Jerusalem. Lieberman asked Mogherini to make sure that any action taken
by Berger – who was appointed by Mogherini’s predecessor, Catherine
Ashton – conformed to her policies and directives.
Last
month, Haaretz revealed that another internal EU document included
directives to the EU ambassador in Israel, Lars Faaborg-Andersen, to
convey a message to the Foreign Ministry and the Prime Minister’s Bureau
in Jerusalem, in the name of the 28 EU countries. The message included a
proposal to launch talks between the EU and Israel, with the goal of
reaching understandings that Israel would refrain from crossing EU red
lines concerning the West Bank that would endanger the two-state
solution.
Jerusalem
was concerned at the time that these talks were preparations for
sanctions – a kind of hearing before punishment is delivered. Senior
Foreign Ministry officials said over the weekend that the secret
document containing the “sticks and carrots” shows that their concerns
were well founded.
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