Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Europe must emerge from US' shadow (Dream on Lamis, lately you have indulged in a lot of wishful thinking.)


The EU has allowed Washington to dominate Arab-Israeli diplomacy for far too long.

Lamis Andoni
Al-Jazeera

"Several senior European politicians have urged the European Union (EU) to threaten Israel with sanctions if it continues to build Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian territory.

A letter signed by, among others, Mary Robinson, the former EU commissioner, and Javier Solana, the organisation's former foreign affairs chief, calls for a European peace plan based on the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the equivalent of "100 per cent of the territory [Israel] occupied in 1967, including its capital in East Jerusalem".

The demands made by the group of 26 former European leaders are not vastly different from the EU's declared position, but this call represents a push for a more assertive policy that includes measures designed to pressure Israel to comply.....

It is time for Europe to regain its role, for Palestinians do not stand to be the only losers from continued European subordination to Washington.

Now that the US has abandoned its efforts to achieve a settlement freeze as a prelude to negotiations, Europe must put an end to the US monopoly of peace diplomacy. Arab states and the Palestinians must also stand up to support this mutiny by Europe's grandees, as the Guardian calls them, and should start by removing some of their eggs from Washington's basket. "

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