Making Europe's cosiness with Israel dependent on commitment to fair peace would be more effective than a blunt boycott
guardian.co.uk,
In Israel, the European Union is often regarded as too pro-Palestinian. But it would be a mistake to see the occasional criticisms of Israel delivered by European politicians as a sign of anti-Israeli sentiment.
It may come as a surprise, for instance, to learn that the EU – not the United States – is Israel's main trading partner, with a relationship worth a handsome €20bn (£17bn) per year.
Not only that, but Israel enjoys the status of a "privileged partner". Recent years have witnessed the EU and Israel striving to "develop an increasingly close relationship, going beyond co-operation, to involve a significant measure of economic integration and a deepening of political co-operation".
When it comes to the Eurovision song contest and football, Israel is counted as part of Europe. But it doesn't stop there. Israel "is a member of the European Union without being a member of its institutions," as the EU's former foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, put it succinctly.
In a new book, Europe's Alliance with Israel, Brussels-based journalist David Cronin reveals just how cosy the EU institutions in Brussels and the capitals of numerous member states have become with Israel, although not comprehensively nor monolithically so, but without any democratic mandate to do so.
Despite the book's occasional resorting to polemic and hyperbole, which sometimes weaken the case it is making, it is a welcome study of a reality that is under-reported and under-scrutinised. "The European Union has allowed itself to become a fig leaf for an illegal occupation," Cronin writes.
Although he might have done more to set the relationship in a historical context, Cronin chronicles the depths of EU-Israel ties in all spheres, from the economic and scientific to the cultural. Among the most shocking revelations is how funding under EU programmes – such as the seventh framework programme and the competitiveness and innovation framework programme – is being awarded to Israeli defence and security firms and companies which profit from Israeli settlements.
Even European aid to the Palestinians can benefit Israel and help sustain its occupation. An estimated 45% of European aid to the Palestinians finds its way into the Israeli economy, Cronin says, citing unnamed UN sources.
A perversely destructive triangle has emerged in which the US provides Israel with military aid which it uses to destroy Palestinian infrastructure, while the EU foots the bill for cleaning up the mess. "Are EU taxpayers really happy to pay to reconstruct what US taxpayers have paid to destroy?" the progressive Palestinian politician Mustafa Barghouti asked MEPs.
So, what can be done? ...READ MORE
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