Europe: The EU is such an honest broker

Elder of Ziyon reports:

From Haaretz yesterday:

The European Union sent a very harsh message to Israel a few days ago regarding the demolition of Palestinian structures in Area C of the West Bank, including some that were built with EU funding. In a meeting with the coordinator of activities in the territories Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai last week, the EU ambassador to Israel, Lars Faaborg Andersen, warned that a continuation of the massive demolition of Palestinian homes in the West Bank is liable to harm relations between the EU and Israel.

According to international law, Israel has full civil and security control of Area C. In legal terms, this is not under dispute. If you want to build there, there is only a single authority through which you must apply for permits: the IDF. Everything else that is built is illegal, by definition.

The EU is complaining that Israel is upholding the law.

Now, there is nothing wrong with the EU complaining that Israel is applying the law unevenly, or for them to use diplomacy to loosen up the permit program. But Israel is obligated to enforce its laws on building in Area C.

When the EU says that Israel must allow illegal building, they are saying that the Oslo accords and the accords that followed - the only documents in international law that determine who is responsible for the West Bank's day to day affairs - are nul and void. Moreover, they are saying that instead of the final border being determined by negotiations, which is the official position of the Western world, they are saying that much of Area C is already Palestinian territory before the fact.

This goes hand in hand with the French initiative this week. The EU is trying to force a solution on Israel and is more than willing to flout international law to do so.

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