{"id":51860,"date":"2013-07-20T08:29:41","date_gmt":"2013-07-20T07:29:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/eu-guidelines-on-israel-part-ii\/51860\/"},"modified":"2013-07-20T08:29:41","modified_gmt":"2013-07-20T07:29:41","slug":"eu-guidelines-on-israel-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/eu-guidelines-on-israel-part-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"EU Guidelines on Israel: Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nEU Guidelines on Israel: Part II<\/b><\/div>\n
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\nby Stephen Lendman<\/div>\n
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\nA previous article<\/span><\/a> <\/span>discussed them in detail. They’re largely old wine in new bottles. They’re more bark than bite. They’ll do virtually nothing to help long-suffering Palestinians.<\/div>\n
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\nOccupation harshness continues. Gazans are ruthlessly besieged. West Bank and East Jerusalem communities face multiple daily Israeli incursions.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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\nIsrael terrorizes them with impunity. Crimes of war and against humanity persist. They remain unaddressed. Apartheid worse than South Africa’s not even mentioned.<\/div>\n
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\nEU weasel wording shows lack of resolve. Suggesting punishment may follow nonconformance stops short of mandating it.<\/div>\n
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\nPast EU\/Israeli relations don’t inspire confidence. Is this time different? Don’t bet on it. Once things quiet down, expect business as usual to continue. At best, perhaps cosmetic changes will follow. They’ll be too little, too late to matter.<\/div>\n
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\nNetanyahu wants new guidelines postponed. He rejects them. He asked EU leaders to hold off publishing. So did John Kerry. He’s Israel’s man at State. He’s back for his sixth visit since February. He’s selling snake oil. More on that below.<\/div>\n
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\nOn Friday, guidelines were released as planned. Advance copies were available. A previous article included them. They’re unimpressive. They’re effective January 1, 2014.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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\nNegotiations on their implementation will continue. Likely with no deadline until Israel’s reassured they don’t matter.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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\nIsraeli ambassadors delivered Netanyahu’s message. Israel won’t accept new conditions. They make little difference. They stop short of biting. They exclude EU-financed military cooperation.<\/div>\n
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\nProfitable defense industry ties exist. They’re longstanding. They won’t change. So do other business relationships. They’ll continue unobstructed. Doing so puts a lie to alleged guideline improvements.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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\nIsrael’s an OECD member state. Intergovernmental relations matter more than Palestine.<\/div>\n
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\nGuideline words don’t reflect policy. Israel gets a pass routinely. It gets away with murder and much more. Its not punished for serious international law violations. Don’t expect EU leaders to change things.<\/div>\n
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\nReal change requires binding mandates. It requires enforcing them with teeth. It means making them all embracing. Measures like the following are essential:<\/div>\n
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