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Future agreements between the European Union and Israel must include the explicit exclusion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank or East Jerusalem, according to a new EU directive described by an Israeli official as an “earthquake”. The EU guidelines, adopted on 30 June, will prohibit the issuing of grants, funding, prizes or scholarships unless a settlement exclusion clause is included. Israeli institutions and bodies situated across the pre-1967 Green Line will be automatically ineligible. The Israeli government will be required to state in any future agreements with the EU that settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are...

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas continues to promote the PA libel that Israel is scheming and acting to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, Palestinian Media Watch reported. In an interview to the Saudi paper Al-Watan, Abbas said that the Arab and Islamic world should become more pro-active in responding to the Israeli “plot”. "All these [Israeli] actions indicate an evil and dangerous plot to destroy Al-Aqsa [Mosque] and build the alleged Temple,” Abbas said, according to PMW. “Unfortunately, these dangers, which are clear for everyone to see, have yet to receive proper Arab, Islamic and international responses," Abbas said....

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday slammed Israel's plans to increase construction in Judea and Samaria, saying they were undermining hopes of ending the Middle East conflict by setting up a Palestinian state. "The secretary general is deeply concerned by the continuing expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank in violation of international law," said UN spokesman Martin Nesirky, according to the AFP news agency. Ban was "particularly troubled" at Israel moving forward with plans for more than 1,000 new homes in two communities Judea and Samaria, the spokesman said. He was referring to plans to build...

In a throwback to its darkest past, the German government recently decided to back an initiative which singles out Jewish-owned businesses and targets them for detrimental treatment. Joining 13 other European Union members, Berlin has reportedly agreed to support efforts aimed at applying special labels of origin to products manufactured by Jewish owned factories in Judea and Samaria. The goal is to harm the livelihood of Jewish businessmen and entrepreneurs as a way of undermining the settlement enterprise. Needless to say, goods made by Palestinian-run plants in the territories will not similarly be branded.

German government document gives backing to EU efforts to put “Made in Israel” label only on products from within pre-1967 lines. … Foreign Ministry officials downplayed as “nothing new” an answer the German government gave to a parliamentary question last month supporting EU efforts to specially label goods originating in Israeli-controlled territory beyond the Green Line. Berlin, the officials said, was merely falling into line with other EU countries which were pushing this issue. …

The labeling of products made by Jews in Judea and Samaria would damage Israel, a report by the Foreign Ministry said—but it would damage PA Arabs even more. According to the report, some 22,500 PA Arabs are employed inside Israeli towns in Judea and Samaria. These Arabs are among the highest paid laborers in the PA. … In addition, they have social rights, including health benefits and pension rights, that are usually unavailable to PA Arabs. … If the aim of the European Union is to assist PA Arabs, the report said, then the labeling of goods from Jewish-owned businesses...

s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu nearing his second declaration in four years on a building freeze in the West Bank in order to facilitate the renewal of peace talks with the Palestinians? The answer is probably no. An official source in Jerusalem told The Israel Post that "Abu Mazen [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas] received this opportunity once. This will not happen again." "If the Palestinians want to talk they know we are waiting for them at the table," the source said. After four years rounds of talks in Jerusalem and Ramallah in the last two months in an effort...

British Foreign Secretary William Hague, who is currently visiting Israel, said in an interview with Sky News that Israel has lost some support in Britain and in other European countries due to its settlement construction policy. He warned that the window of opportunity for Israel and the Palestinians to agree to form a two-state solution was closing fast. …

DUBLIN -Former US President Jimmy Carter said in Dublin “the EU should move to introduce proper labelling of goods produced on illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.” (snip)It could therefore introduce a clear labelling of products made in Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international law,” he added. Ireland currently holds the rotating EU presidency until end of June. Mary Robinson said this was not “an anti-Israel move,” but rather “a concrete step, supported by many of our Israeli friends, to revive the hope of a future state of Palestine

Former Attorney General Michael Ben-Yair severely criticized Israel’s conduct in the West Bank in a debate on his Facebook page over the last few days, Yedioth Ahronoth reported. “The settlements are the most evil and foolish acts since World War II,” Ben-Yair said in a post. … One of Ben-Yair’s Facebook friends, journalist Yaoz Sever, responded: “Do you claim that the settlements are worse than Pol Pot’s regime in Cambodia? Than Stalin’s crimes against his people? Than Darfur?” “Definitely,” answered Ben-Yair. “The settlement movement is a political act by a state against another people and as such is the most...

Ten days after President Obama’s June 2009 address “to the Muslim world” in Cairo, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, in a speech of his own, gently chided him for linking Jewish aspirations for a homeland with persecution and the Holocaust rather than a 3,000-year connection to the land. Judging from his itinerary, when Obama arrives Wednesday for his first presidential visit to Israel, he hopes to correct the impression that he failed to grasp what drove the Jewish dream to re-establish a state 65 years ago in the biblical land of Israel. … An argument often cited by Israeli critics...

Israeli settlers living in the Palestinian territories often deceptively give their products a “Made in Israel” label. The European Union wants to move soon to end the practice and appears to be set on a collision course with the country. … The international community has never recognized Israeli sovereignty over these areas, and the Geneva Convention outlaws the establishment of settlements within occupied territories. Nevertheless, successive Israeli governments have allowed colonies to be built up within them and, today, some 650,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. …

Germany and three other European members of the U.N. Security Council are preparing a statement condemning Israel’s latest settlement plans in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, a European diplomatic official said Tuesday. The so-called E4 grouping—permanent council members Britain and France, plus Germany and Portugal—is concerned that such settlements could threaten the possible two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, the official said. Details of the European statement are being finalized in New York, the diplomat said on condition of anonymity because the work was not yet completed. … The European Union—Israel’s biggest trading partner—has been increasingly vocal in...

A joint German-Israeli government meeting in Berlin on Thursday (6 December) is likely to be the scene of more disagreements between Chancellor Angela Merkel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the two traditional allies are having increased difficulty finding common ground. The scene was set already on the eve of the meeting. Netanyahu told Die Welt about his “disappointment” at Germany’s decision last week to abstain instead of saying “No” to Palestine's status upgrade within the United Nations. “I think Chancellor Merkel thought this vote would somehow promote peace. But the opposite has happened: Ever since the UN vote, the...

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday denounced Israel's plans to build homes in the area known as E1. AFP reported that Abbas said the plan was "a red line that cannot be tolerated" and warned he would take all the legal means available to prevent such a "dangerous" decision. "We went to all international parties to prevent this settlement decision, and if it goes ahead we will resort to all legitimate and legal methods," he warned, according to the report. E1 refers to an area that connects Jerusalem and Maaleh Adumim. It was designated nearly 20 years ago for...

Britain and France have summoned their Israeli ambassadors to protest Israel's decision to authorize housing construction in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem. The ambassadors were summoned Monday amid reports that the two countries would recall their envoys in Israel for consultations. Sweden also has summoned its Israel ambassador, according to reports. "We deplore the recent Israeli government decision to build 3,000 new housing units and unfreeze development in the E1 block," the British Foreign Office said in a statement, threatening a "strong reaction" if construction goes ahead. "This threatens the viability of the two-state solution." The E1 corridor, which...

Denmark is fronting an EU initiative to help consumers boycott Israeli settlement products. … The move comes after EU foreign ministers in May said they will "fully and effectively implement existing EU legislation" on the subject. The EU says settlements are illegal. But its regular complaints about settlement expansion fall on deaf ears. … An Israeli source said EU pressure on settlements is nothing new. He said settlement-bashing supports the Palestinian line that settlement-building—instead of Israeli security—is the main obstacle in the peace process. …

On Tuesday, a fateful hearing took place at the Supreme Court to determine the destiny of the Jewish community of Migron. The complicated history of the site, and the legal wrangling surrounding it over the past six years, have left many people wondering where right begins and wrong ends. But regardless of one’s political views, there is something about the case that should send a shudder down the spine of every Israeli who values liberty. Standing before the justices, Osnat Mandel of the State Attorney’s Office said that Migron in its entirety should be evacuated within a few days. Mandel...

The EU is today to confirm moves to strengthen economic ties with Israel, facing off criticism that trade conditions should be frozen due to the diplomatic impasse over Israeli settlements in the occupied territories. … The EU is Israel’s main trading partner with total trade worth €29.5 billion ($35.6 billion) in 2011. The 27-member bloc agreed to its first bilateral trade deal with Israel in 2000. However, plans for a comprehensive EU-Israel free trade agreement were frozen by the EU in January 2009 following Israeli attacks on the Gaza strip. The EU said that progress on trade talks was dependent...

A fascinating development this week in Israel was the release of the report of a governmental commission whose assignment had been to define the legal status of the “occupied territories” for purposes of government policy. The commission was headed by Edmond Levy, an interesting former Supreme Court justice and one of the only ones who is not a judicial activist leftist. The Obama people are upset with the report (an indication of how good it is) and Israel’s moonbat Left is positively wetting itself in anguish. Basically the report says that the West Bank – Judea and Samaria – are...