The Commissioner for European Neighbourhood
Policy, Mr Štefan Füle, issued a statement following the meeting, which
indicated the European Commission’s desire to develop its cooperation with Israel
in a number of areas. Commissioner Füle stated that the meeting had involved
some discussion of developments in the area of human rights and democratic
freedoms in Israel.
However, the statement made no mention of the occupied Palestinian territory
(oPt) or of Israel’s
policies and actions in the region.
By expanding bilateral relations with Israel, the EU has ignored warnings from its own
foreign ministers that Israeli policies and actions in the West Bank seriously
undermine the possibility for a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine.
PCHR condemns, in the strongest terms, the ongoing construction of settlements
in the oPt. Israel’s
settlement activities violate international law, as well as the private
property rights and the collective and individual human rights of the
Palestinian people.
For example, Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva
Convention prohibits an occupying power from transferring its civilian
population into the territory it occupies and from creating any permanent
change in an occupied territory not intended for the benefit of the occupied
population. As such, the construction of settlements in the oPt constitutes a
war crime under international humanitarian law.
Furthermore, the decision to grant Israel
greater access to European markets, which represent 60% of Israel’s trade, has
been made without due consideration of the human rights situation of the
Palestinian people. Israel
has been granted access to EU markets, without offering any explicit agreement
to comply with its human rights obligations in the oPt. This has severely
weakened the EU’s ability to encourage Israel to fulfil its
responsibilities under international human rights law and international
humanitarian law. PCHR believes that the EU squandered the opportunity to
discuss important human rights issues, by acting in favour of economic
considerations.
By concluding this agreement, the EU has shown
a blatant disregard for repeated human rights violations by Israel in the
oPt. This includes arbitrary arrest, the use of administrative detention,
torture and ill-treatment, the use of force against civilians and civilian
property, and extrajudicial killings. PCHR has also documented violations by Israel of a
wide variety of fundamental freedoms, including freedom of movement,
expression, assembly, and association. The Israeli judicial system offers
little or no opportunity of redress to the victims of these human rights
violations.
In addition, the agreement pays no regard to Israel’s
unilateral absolute closure of the Gaza Strip, which is ongoing since 2007. The
closure represents collective punishment of the civilian population, and is
recognised by the International Committee of the Red Cross as a clear violation
of Israel’s
obligations under international humanitarian law.
In light of the above, PCHR:
1. Strongly
condemns the EU’s decision to strengthen trade and diplomatic relations with Israel;
2. Calls on the
EU to reconsider its position in relation to Israel, in light of repeated grave
violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian
law; and
3. Calls on Israel to
fulfil its obligations under international human rights law and international
humanitarian law.
