The Israeli government is very angry at the European Union. How could the Europeans allow themselves to undermine the negotiations with the Palestinians just as they are starting up again? Even Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, the brightest white dove in the government, chastised German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle Aug. 11 during his visit to Israel, for the decision by thirteen members of the EU to tag products manufactured in the occupied territories (excuse me, Judea and Samaria and United Jerusalem) and the sanctions that the EU placed on companies and organizations that operate in these regions. Livni complained that the Europeans are taking “unilateral measures” instead of allowing the parties to find solutions to their differences through direct negotiations.

It would be interesting to know if the guest asked Livni whether the government’s decision to include nineteen settlements in the map of national priority zones, which affords them extra privileges, was made in the wake of direct negotiations with Palestinian Chairman Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas). Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the German minister that sanctions “toughen the Palestinian position.” What about the laying of a cornerstone for a new Jewish settlement outside the Jebel Mukaber neighborhood of east Jerusalem, or approving a program to build 1,200 housing units in the territories? Were these measures intended to soften Abu Mazen’s positions regarding east Jerusalem and the settlements?

Deputy Foreign Minister Ze’ev Elkin tackled the problem from another angle. He argued that these sanctions could harm the livelihoods of Palestinian workers who are employed in the settlements, something which everybody knows he simply cannot tolerate. In a meeting July 8 with Germany’s Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development Dirk Niebel, the deputy minister and settler warned that tagging products as manufactured in the settlements “would harm the Palestinian workers of these factories located in Area C … The closing of the factories could cause more than 22,000 Palestinian families to find themselves out of work. Ultimately, this will harm the economy of the entire Palestinian Authority.”

It is uncertain whether claims such as this will find an ear in Europe. More likely, it could remind the Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, British and French of the excuses that they used during the colonial era to ensure that their African colonies could continue to exploit the local residents while they plundered the continent’s natural resources.