Maureen Shamee
EJC President Moshe Kantor said that the declaration hardly takes into account recent Israeli concessions including a moratorium on settlement building, removing roadblocks, boosting the Palestinian economy and accepting the premise of a Palestinian state.
“Although the declaration goes some way to correcting the unprecedented proposals by the Swedes, it is still extremely lopsided towards the Palestinian point of view” he said.
“This will only embolden the Palestinians by sending them the message that they don’t need to negotiate because they will receive everything on a silver platter. It also ignores the fact that Israel has repeatedly called for immediate and direct negotiations without preconditions, something repeatedly ignored by the Palestinians”.
“Israel has taken significant steps towards the renewal of talks by its actions, including freezing the settlements, and it is time to push the Palestinians back to the negotiation table, not in the opposite direction”; Kantor said.
“Peace can only be achieved by negotiations between the two parties.”
The EJC, which is an umbrella body representing Jewish communities across Europe, believes that the nature of the declaration stands in contrast to the role of an honest broker that the European Union seeks to play.
“Europe could and should play a role in the Middle East peace process but some of the wording in the declaration is counterproductive. We call on the EU to assist the process and not hamper” he said.
“We urge all EU member states to strive for even handedness when dealing with the Middle East”.
Kantor however praised the role played by France, Italy and other nations to soften the original Swedish text.
