A leaked EU report on the status of Jerusalem warns that the city has reached a dangerous level of “polarisation and violence” more severe than anything since the end of the second Intifada in 2005. It places much of the blame for that tension on Israel, and urges the EU to impose measures akin to sanctions on Israel.
Leaked EU Report Harshly Condemns Israel, Urges Sanctions And Says Arab-Jewish Tensions In Jerusalem At Near-All-Time High
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
A leaked EU report on the status of Jerusalem warns that the city has reached a dangerous level of “polarisation and violence” more severe than anything since the end of the second Intifada in 2005, the Guardian reported.
The report blames Israel for government-sanctioned Jewish construction in the predominantly Arab half of the city, which the EU says has made tensions far worse, and calls for tougher sanctions against Israel in response to that construction.
– the leaked document paints a devastating picture of a city more divided than at any time since 1967, when Israeli forces occupied the east of the city.
The leaked report also describes a “vicious cycle of violence … increasingly threatening the viability of the two-state solution,” violence that has been stoked by “systematic” Jewish construction in “sensitive areas” of Jerusalem.
The EU report blames Israel’s heavy-handed policing against Arabs in East Jerusalem, including home demolitions of relatives of terrorists and forced evictions, and near constant tension over the Temple Mount complex despite some positive steps Israel has taken to reduce those tensions, for the dramatic increases in tension and violence.
The yearly report, jointly prepared by the heads of mission of EU countries in Jerusalem, also suggests various potential punitive measures the EU and its member states that would target those behind the East Jerusalem construction, extremist West Bank settlers and settlement products.
According to The Guardian, some of the recommendations in the report include:
• New restrictions against “known violent settlers and those calling for acts of violence as regards immigration regulations in EU member states.”
• Coordinated steps by all EU member states to ensure that consumers in the EU can exercise their right to informed choice in choosing to buy or avoid settlement products – i.e., the labeling of all products made in West Bank settlements of Jewish neighborhoods and outposts in East Jerusalem so consumers can choose to boycott them.
• New efforts by the EU and its member states to raise awareness among European businesses about the risks of working with settlements.
• The creation and promotion of voluntary guidelines for tourism operators to help to keep them from supporting West Bank settlements and Jewish building in Arab East Jerusalem.
An Israeli government spokesman reportedly called the report “extremely one sided” and said that it “distorts reality beyond comprehension.”
The report appears to have been leaked (and possibly made harsher) in response to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge, made in the closing days of the election campaign, to scrap the two state solution, and to his openly racist call on Election Day issued to Jewish voters to rush to the polls and vote because, Netanyahu said, Arab-Israelis, referred to by Netanyahu only as the Arabs, are voting “in droves.”