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The EU Is Disengaging From the Settlements, Not From Israel

Persson, Anders

Published in:Haaretz

2015

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Citation for published version (APA):Persson, A. (2015). The EU Is Disengaging From the Settlements, Not From Israel. Haaretz.http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.685647

Total number of authors:1

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The EU Is Disengaging From theSettlements, Not From IsraelRather than boycotting Israel, the EU’s new 'differentiation strategy' specificallyseparates out the democratic and internationally recognized Israel within the 1967borders - with whom it seeks close ties - from the non-democratic and non-recognizedsettlements.

Anders Persson | Nov 12, 2015 11:20 AM

Israeli settlers stand on the roof of a synagogue in the West Bank settlement of Givat Zeev, north of Jerusalem on November 4, 2015. Credit: AFP

European Commission adopts guidelines for labeling products from Israeli settlements

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Israel cancels meetings with EU over decision to label settlement goodsNetanyahu to EU: Shame on you for decision to label settlement goods

Three years of internal discussions have finally resulted in the EU’sadoption of guidelines on the labeling of products from West Banksettlements and the Golan Heights. Such products, according to thenew rubric, suggests that these goods could be labeled 'product fromthe Golan Heights (Israeli settlement)' or 'product from the WestBank (Israeli settlement)'.

Why has the EU decided that this labeling strategy is an effectivecontinuation of its policies regarding the Israeli-Palestinianconflict? What does it hope to achieve and is it likely these aims willbe met?

The EU’s new “differentiation strategy” is meant to distinguishclearly between the settlements and Israel proper, and labeling is apart of this effort. It is a strategy that should be seen both as a verylate measure against reversing more than four decades of Israelisettlement construction, but also as a possible strategy for dealingwith Israel in a post two-state solution reality.

While the peace process certainly has died and resurrected severaltimes before in the past, it seems harder and harder to visualize aviable Palestinian state alongside Israel. By “disengaging from thesettlements”, differentiation actually makes it possible for the EU tohave normal relations with Israel, even if the occupation will notend. It is therefore a strategy where one of the objectives is to avoidplacing real, and far more painful – because more effective -sanctions against Israel.

The EU’s new differentiation strategy is about separating thedemocratic and internationally recognized Israel within the 1967borders from what is increasingly referred to by Peter Beinart andothers as the non-democratic and non-recognized Israel, which isthe occupied territory, primarily of the West Bank (including EastJerusalem), but also of the Golan Heights. Differentiation takes theform of prohibiting grants, prizes and funding from the EU to thesettlements in the occupied territories (2013 EU settlementguidelines), clauses in EU-Israel agreements (See for example, theHorizon 2020 research project that began in 2014) that stipulatethat the occupied territories are not part of the state of Israel, non-recognition of Israeli veterinary supervision beyond the Green Line(2014 EU decision), which has effectively banned these productsfrom entering the EU. The latest measure in the EU’s differentiationstrategy is the recently announced labeling of settlement products.

Since the differentiation strategy targets only around 1% of Israel’seconomy, it is obviously not an instrument for boycotting Israel andit will likely not lead to immediate Israeli counter-reactions orconcessions, but it may have long-term consequences, just as theEU’s normative diplomacy has had in the conflict in the past. Hadthe EU really wanted to boycott Israel, it would of course target the

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other 99% - the internationally recognized and democratic Israel,which the EU, as it continues to state over and over again, insteadwants closer relations with.

In late 2013, around the same time as the settlement guidelineswent into effect, the EU offered Israel an unprecedented assistancepackage in the form of a “Special Privileged Partnership” (SPP) if itwould sign a peace agreement with the Palestinians. The SPP, whichwas a bit vague when it was published, was estimated to be worthbillions of euros, not to mention what it would do for Israel’sdecreasing international legitimacy. Above all, the fact that the EUoffers Israel closer integration into the Union ridicules certainextreme Israeli allegations by settler leaders and others that theEU’s differentiation strategy is motivated by anti-Semitism.

At the same time, it is certainly true, as Israeli critics argue, thatdifferentiation is as political a strategy as much as it is technical oreconomic. These measures against Israel would not have happenedif Israel and the Palestinians would be six months away fromsigning a peace treaty. But Israeli critics are wrong in arguing thatIsrael somehow is being unfairly singled out for sanctions whileothers are not. Right now, about three dozen countries are listed onthe EU’s list of countries subjected to ”restrictive measures(sanctions) in force” - and Israel is not among them. Israeli critics ofthe EU often conveniently fail to mention that the EU has a similardifferentiation strategy in place for Armenia’s occupation ofNagorno-Karabakh, though not for other occupations like Turkey’sof Northern Cyprus or Morocco’s of Western Sahara, which EUofficials say are completely different situations from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Also important to note is that the EU in its security strategy from2003 defined resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, unlikeother conflicts, as “a strategic priority for Europe”. This completelylegitimate self-interest might warrant different measures in theIsraeli-Palestinian conflict as compared to other conflicts. In aworld still dominated by interests and realpolitik, one can neverexpect a political actor to be completely consistent in itsinternational affairs. Just look at the disrespect with which Israelileaders regularly treat the EU, or even the American administration(its real friends) and compare that to the respect it pays the leadersof Russia (the main weapons supplier for Israel’s enemies) andChina (a lucrative trading partner for Israel, but hardly a diplomatically, as it almost always votes against Israel’s positions ininternational forums).

The academic literature on the EU has long sought ways for theunion to translate its economic power into political clout in theIsraeli-Palestinian conflict. The differentiation strategy offers theEU just that – a completely new box of diplomatic tools it can useagainst Israel, where the EU can use its power as the world’s largesteconomy and Israel’s number one trading partner as diplomaticleverage. Differentiation between the democratic and non-

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democratic Israel will be even more important in a possible futurescenario where the two-state solution is gone and the occupationbecomes permanent. In the meantime, the EU’s differentiationstrategy offers one of the most concrete examples yet of the price –political, but increasingly also economic - that Israel is paying for itscontinued occupation.

Anders Persson is a political scientist at Linnaeus University,Sweden. He is also expert commentator on the Middle East onSwedish TV and radio. His latest book The EU and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict 1971-2013: In Pursuit of a Just Peace wasrecently published by Lexington Books.

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