EU Lawmakers Urge Rethink on 'Guidelines' with Israel
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Some 30 members of the European Parliament on Wednesday urged the EU to rethink July guidelines banning financial ties with Israeli settlements.
In a letter to the bloc's top diplomat Catherine Ashton, 27 MEPs across the political spectrum urged the EU's executive, the European Commission, to reverse or at least soften the guidelines setting a January 2014 ban on funding and business deals with settlements in the occupied West Bank and annexed East Jerusalem.
They urged Ashton "to take all the necessary steps to withdraw the commission guidelines or, at the very least, to come to terms with the government of Israel to ensure that their implementation will reflect the deep bilateral relations between the European Union and Israel and would by no means harm them".
The July 19 EU text angered Israeli leaders, with some accusing Europe of trying to dictate its borders.
The letter to Ashton was released as Israel's Haaretz daily said the country finally might join a European-funded research project that it had threatened to shun due to these guidelines.
The paper said Israel gave Brussels a "final proposal for the wording of the agreement governing Israeli scientific cooperation and participation in the joint Horizon 2020 initiative".
It said EU officials were expected to give an answer by the end of the week.
Israel warned in August that it might refuse to participate in Horizon 2020, a seven-year 70-billion-euro ($94 billion) research and innovation plan.
The Jewish state was to contribute 600 million euros to the project.
The building of new settlements on occupied Palestinian land is a key sticking point in Middle East peace talks.
13 November 2013, 19:54
05
Tell us, AFP, what does "Jewish state" mean in legal terms. Does it mean non-Jews have no rights?
13 November 2013, 22:21
50
It means exactly the same as the "Islamic Republic of Iran", "Arab Republic of Egypt" "Syrian Arab Republic". It is just a name given to show the majority of the population of the country.
When AFP for instance doesn't the name Buddhist Kingdom instead of Thailand, Hindu Republic instead of India, but uses the term "Jewish State", it carries a clear anti-Israel stance.
14 November 2013, 04:50
01
In light of Israeli behavior during the peace process and stated intentions of continuing settlement development in the occupied territories this is nothing more than cowardice ...
14 November 2013, 10:20
10
bigjohn - you talk about Israel being the only racist ethnic cleaning state, so please answer the following questions :
Is there a non-Arab member of the supreme court in any Arab state, in Israel there is an Arab Supreme Court Judge.
Is there any Arab Country where 10% of the Members of Parliament are non Arabs. In Israel 12 Members of Parliament are Arabs, Moslems or Christians, and Druze.
Is there any Arab country where there are hundreds of non-Arab judges and lawyers, doctors and nurses, army and police officers, university professors, lecturers and students. In Israel there are a great many of non-Jewish people in all these positions, with at least one hospital director being an Arab, the head of at least one educational campus is an Arab.
How can a country which has over 15% of its population consisting of minorities of Arabs (Moslem and Christian), Druze, Circassians, and many others be accused of racial cleansing?
