Israel Matzav

European Union to bar some revenants?

The European Union is looking into banning 'violent settlers' like these seen giving candies to 'Palestinians' for Eid-al-Fitr.

This document, which was obtained by Haaretz, says most of the violent incidents perpetrated by settlers "appear to be part of a pattern of coercion aimed at forcing Palestinian communities in Area C to leave with a view to expanding settlements or outposts."

The document also states that the "political strength of the settler movement has grown" and "the Israeli authorities have generally not taken firm action against outposts [that are] also illegal under Israeli law." Given that, it states, a "culture of impunity is which the violence continues" has developed.

The committee said the settler attacks were becoming more serious and, in some areas, more coordinated. The United Nations "considers settler violence as the biggest security threat to its personnel in the West Bank," the document states.

The experts also said Israeli perpetrators of violence against Palestinians rarely face punishment and cited "worrying reports of incidents of the Israeli military, despite being present, [having] failed to intervene to protect Palestinians or their property from violence by extremist settlers."

"If settler violence is not dealt with preventively, it will increasingly obstruct efforts by both parties for solving the conflict," the document states. It suggested that member states "could explore the possibilities of denying access of known violent settlers to the EU."

Several of the committee experts visited the West Bank and Israel last week. A Foreign Ministry source said the visit "was totally unbalanced. Unfortunately, this is typical of some of the European clerical staff."

According to the source, the European diplomats devoted most of their time to visiting the Palestinian Authority areas, and made several tours of the region accompanied solely by Palestinian officials.

The Foreign Ministry was infuriated when told of the document's contents, with officials saying that Israel had had no inkling that EU institutions were preparing any such blacklist.

"It's hard to respond to a paper we haven't seen," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor. "As for the inflammatory proposal to refuse to admit what they call 'known violent settlers' because Israel hasn't put them on trial, there's an internal contradiction there. How will a person be defined as a 'violent settler' if he hasn't been convicted? And if he's been convicted, then Israel has brought him to justice. It seems as if in their eagerness to suggest tough measures, these esteemed experts neglected simple logic."

It doesn't sound like those who are to be banned will be given either notice or an opportunity to be heard.  On the hand, the Europeans are declaring them to be 'violent' based on what? I understand that non-citizens have no inherent right to enter another country, but given that the Europeans allow in the likes of Abu Qatada and then won't allow him to be deported, one has to wonder what their standards are and whether there's something else at work here.

One more point. Earlier in the article quoted above it says:

In January of this year, the consuls general of the EU countries in East Jerusalem and Ramallah wrote a report dealing with settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, especially the incidents the settlers refer to as "price tag" revenge attacks.

Most of the price tag attacks have never been proven to have been committed by 'settlers,' but even if they were to be proven, from what I recall, those attacks were all attacks against property and not against people. We have yet to find a single dead 'Palestinian' with 'price tag' engraved in his forehead. Some 'violent' people those 'settlers,' aren't they?

Labels: European Union, price tag attacks, revenants

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:39 PM