EU foreign ministers ask for list of actions to dissuade Israel from annexation

Officials from 11 countries write to the foreign policy chief asking for options that 'would 'contribute to our efforts to deter annexation, including legal consequences'.

Foreign Policy chief Josep Borrell testifies before the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs in 2019 (Wikipedia/ Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/european_parliament/48859228518/ Author: Author European Parliament from EU / Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode)

Foreign ministers from 11 European countries have asked the EU to give them a list of possible actions to dissuade Israel from annexing parts of the West Bank.

In their letter to the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, they said they wanted options that would “contribute to our efforts to deter annexation” including

La inversión extranjera en Israel aumentó un 30 % entre 2015 y 2017

La inversión extranjera en Israel aumentó 30 por ciento en dos años, según un nuevo informe de la Oficina Central de Estadísticas, publicado el domingo.

El informe señala que las inversiones extranjeras en Israel totalizaron $ 129.1 mil millones en 2017, un aumento del 20.2 por ciento en comparación con 2016 y un 30 por ciento más que en 2015, que vio una inversión extranjera de menos de $ 100 mil millones.

Estos son los países más saludables del mundo. (Según la Organización Mundial de la Salud.) Israel es el noveno.

Traducido para Porisrael.org por Yetty Blum

Destacamos las naciones que están al tope de la esperanza de vida, del acceso a la atención médica y de la disponibilidad de agua limpia

'Europe is not Israel’s enemy'

Luxembourg's FM Asselborn meets with Rivlin after meeting with Netanyahu. 

 

“We in Europe are not enemies of Israel,” Luxembourg’s Foreign and European Affairs Minister Jean Asselborn told President Reuven Rivlin on Monday

Asselborn came to Israel on Sunday on a two-day working visit at the invitation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who is also Foreign Minister.

Prior to his meeting with Rivlin, Asselborn met on Sunday with Netanyahu, opposition leader Isaac Herzog and deputy Knesset Speaker Ahmed Tibi.

Because Luxembourg does not have an Embassy in Israel and is represented by the Benelux cooperative union, he was accompanied to all his meetings with Israeli dignitaries by Belgian Ambassador John Cornet.

Rivlin, apparently oblivious to threats of resignation and cancelling of the Oslo Accords by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas asked Asselborn to try to make Abbas understand that it is to the benefit of both Palestinians and Israelis if an end is brought to the long conflict between them.

Rivlin lamented the Palestinian president’s decision to go to the United Nations instead of opting for direct negotiations which Rivlin believes is the only way in which differences between the parties can be resolved.

Asselborn said that in all of his meetings in Ramallah and elsewhere with the Palestinian leadership, he had been told that they were ready to negotiate but that first they wanted Israel to stop any further construction in the West Bank. This was crucial both politically and economically, he said.

“I can assure you that the settlements are not an obstacle to peace,” declared Rivlin, citing as an example the evacuation from Gaza which had not made any difference to the Palestinian position.

Rivlin, a native son of Jerusalem, was likewise adamant that the capital must remain united and not be re-divided. “To re-divide it is something we cannot accept,” he said.

Asselborn also referred to the standard of living and said that the Arabs must have the same level standard of living opportunities as the Israelis.

He voiced the hope that the vacuum in the peace process will not continue.

When Europe criticizes Israel he said, it is not out of animosity, but because it is trying to move things in a better direction.

Rivlin said he was doubtful that Abbas would ever be able to persuade the Palestinian people that Israel is a Jewish State and that the Jews have returned to their homeland. Until the Palestinians appreciate this fact and give Israelis the dignity of this right, there will be no progress, he predicted. He conceded that Israel must also give the Palestinians their dignity as human beings.

On the Iranian issue, Rivlin drew his guest’s attention to the fact that in the deal made with Iran, the focus had been on preventing the nuclearization of Iran, but there is nothing in the agreement that forces Iran to renounce terror and to stop funding terrorist activities.



09/09/2015 en
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/Europe-is-not-Israels-enemy-415477