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?