Europees Parlement doet forse aantijginge n aan Isra ël

[Cees Binkhorst]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Het Europese parlement steunt én de toetreding tot de OECD én
veroordeelt Israël inzake Palestina.

Een analogie zoals de familie Heineken controle over het
Heineken-concern uitoefent: Je moet alleen maar 51% van de stemmen
beheersen.
Om dat dan toch te minimaliseren kun je er meerdere schakels tussen
zetten: dus 51% van 51% van 51% ;)
Dus met een investering van iets meer dan 13% kun je in drie stappen
toch alle controle uitoefenen.
Dat principe kun je ook op democratie toepassen!

Groet / Cees

PS. Daaruit blijkt dat politici ook niets snappen van Venn-diagrammen.
Of juist wél?

Europees Parlement doet forse aantijgingen aan Israël (en) - Hoofdinhoud
Met dank overgenomen van EU observer i, gepubliceerd op 1 juni 2010, 17:50.
Muur tussen Israëlisch en Palestijns gebied
http://www.europa-nu.nl/

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The EU parliament has escalated its rhetoric in
the wake of the killings of civilians in a humanitarian mission to Gaza,
with MEPs of all political hues publicly using words such as
"terrorism," "kidnapping," "revulsion," and even "obscene" to describe
Israel's actions.

Somewhat more free from the realpolitik of the member states and the
European Commission, the parliament has been the strongest EU critic of
the Jewish state even in times of relative harmony in EU-Israel
relations, although this sort of language is normally beyond the pale
for all but the far-left members of the house.

"The state of Israel is acting like a common terrorist. The
international community cannot let this go on anymore," Luxembourg
centre-left MEP Robert Goebbels, previously the country's economy
minister for 10 years, told reporters on Tuesday (1 June), speaking as
part of a a cross-party group of socialist, social democrat, liberal and
Green MEPs who had visited the Gaza strip as part of a parliamentary
delegation in January.

"It is a case for the International Criminal Court. The ICC has to look
at this act of piracy in international waters," he added. He went on to
describe the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip as "a kind of gulag."

Niccolo Rinaldi , a vice-president of the Liberal group in the
parliament and an Italian MEP, called the events "morally obscene."

"It is absolutely unprecedented. I don't think there has ever been any
similar case to the one that took place yesterday," he said, adding that
the lack of sanction against Israel by the international community has
"led Israel to think it can do whatever it wants to peaceful people."

Nessa Childers , an Irish Labour MEP, said that Israel is "acting with
impunity," and denounced the capture of civilians in international
waters as "kidnapping."

Alexandra Thein , a German Free Democrat, had intended to participate in
the flotilla but pulled out at the last minute, afraid that Israel would
attack the boats: "Yesterday morning when I got up and heard the news, I
was shocked and just happy that I was alive. I had wanted to go on the
boat."

Saluting the "courage" of those aboard, she called on the European
Parliament to organise its own boat to try to break the blockade.

The MEPs called on the EU to suspend the bloc's Association Agreement
with Israel and for the OECD to pause its talks with the country over
its accession to the international organisation.

They are expecting a strong resolution in the chamber condemning the
assault.

EP chief: 'End the siege of Gaza'

Jerzy Buzek i , the Polish centre-right president of the chamber, was
only slightly more moderate, calling the Israeli actions "unjustified"
and "unacceptable."

Although his own political party, the European People's Party, was not
present at the Tuesday press conference, as the group had not
participated in the January mission, he issued a joint statement late on
Sunday together with a second delegation of deputies, including
centre-right and conservative members, who visited Gaza last week,
expressing his "deep shock" at the "disproportionate action taken by the
Israeli authorities and strongly condemn the attack."

He said: "It is a clear and unacceptable breach of international law,"
and demanded that the EU's foreign policy chief move to force Israel to
allow access to the Gaza Strip, calling the blockade a "siege."

"The European Parliament also urges High Representative Ashton to take
steps within the Quartet to force Israel to lift the siege on the people
of Gaza immediately and unconditionally. We cannot stand by while 80
percent of the Gazan population is living below the poverty line," he said.

The head of the centre-left group in the house, German MEP Martin
Schulz, talked of "revulsion" at what happened, saying: "Israel has
crossed a line in the military action shown on our television screens
today."

Not every MEP is taking such a strong line, however. Joseph Daul, the
chief of the EPP group in the parliament, while expressing "shock" at
the "excessive force," also sought an explanation for the violence.

"Many questions have to be answered, like: What is the explanation for
such an excessive use of force? Was there a life-threatening resistance
to justify the use of live ammunition?" Mr Daul said in a statement on
Sunday.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
EU steunt ondanks zorgen lidmaatschap Israël OECD (en) - Hoofdinhoud
Met dank overgenomen van EU observer i, gepubliceerd op 10 mei 2010, 17:45.
http://www.europa-nu.nl/

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The 19 EU countries which are also members of
the OECD i have voted to let Israel join the economic club, but voiced
worries that the move could hurt the Middle East peace process.

Ambassadors from the full panoply of 31 existing Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development members gave the decision the
green light at a behind-closed-doors meeting in Paris on Monday (10
April), with formal accession to follow later this month.

A Norwegian diplomat told EUobserver that 24 countries, including the EU
group-of-19 as well as Mexico, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey in their
individual statements at the conclave said the move should not be seen
as a legitimisation of Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian
territories.

"We don't want membership to influence the question of Israel's
borders," the Norwegian source said. "There's been a huge debate on
this. It's not an easy subject."

Some countries proposed attaching a footnote to Israel's official letter
of invitation saying the OECD does not recognise any changes to Israel's
pre-1967 boundary. But the move did not gain unanimous support, the
Norwegian contact added.

The OECD is to set up an expert group to ensure that Israel clearly
separates economic activity on its territory proper from activity in
settlements when reporting statistics, however.

Membership of the prestigious Paris-based institution is based primarily
on economic criteria and will help Israel to attract foreign investors
and to borrow money more cheaply on international markets.

But the move also has a political dimension.

The OECD's rulebook says members must be committed to "pluralist
democracy based on the rule of law and the respect of human rights" and
to look to the "attainment of the purposes of the United Nations."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu i welcomed the OECD decision
as a sign that Israel is not being isolated on the world stage. "I'd
like to thank the 31 member states for voting for our joining the
organisation. Any one of them could have voted 'No' and vetoed our
inclusion. They chose not to do so," he said.

"It is a show of confidence in the Israeli economy and in Israeli
society," a diplomat from the Jewish state added.

The EU group-of-19 includes many of Israel's most trenchant critics
inside the EU, such as Belgium, Luxembourg, Ireland, Portugal and
Sweden, many of whom continue to block an upgrade in EU-Israel
diplomatic ties due to violations of Palestinian human rights and the
settlements issue.

Belgium believes the OECD move will mean greater transparency on
Israel's financial reporting and smooth the way for the inclusion of
Arab states, such as Egypt, in future. Sweden took the line the OECD is
primarily an economic club, with discussion of political issues best
left to other forums.

For her part, EU foreign relations chief Catherine Ashton on Monday
welcomed progress between Israel, the Palestinian authorities and the US
on so-called "proximity" talks designed to end the decades-old conflict.

"I am delighted the proximity talks appear to be moving," she said.

Commenting on the EU's commitment to human rights in its foreign
policy-making more broadly, she said: "They are the silver thread that
runs through everything we do and will be the silver thread that runs
through the EAS [the EU's nascent diplomatic corps] when it is up and
running."

EU members Estonia and Slovenia were invited to join the OECD at the
same time as Israel.

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