Why Irish sanctions on settlement products don’t scare Israel


Irish Senate's vote will have no practical effect but Israel reacted furiously

Israeli settlement of Ma’ale Adumim

Akiva Eldar writes in Al Monitor, “The Irish Senate on July 11 advanced sanctions legislation on goods produced in Israeli West Bank settlements. Were it not for the grim state of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and the plumes of smoke and fire billowing over the Israeli south sparked by incendiary kites and balloons released from Gaza, the Palestinian reaction and Israeli protest concerning the decision would have been laughable.2

“Saeb Erekat, secretary-general of the PLO, described the Senate initiative to criminalize the import of goods made in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights as a ‘courageous historic gesture that sends a clear message and points the way forward for the European Union.’ For now, however, there is no indication, opaque or clouded, that other EU member states will follow suit. There is also no guarantee that the proposed law, opposed by the Irish government, will complete the legislative process and become law.”

“Nonetheless, Israel’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying the Senate in Dublin was backing a ‘populist, dangerous and extremist anti-Israel boycott initiative that hurts the chances of dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians; it will have a negative impact on the diplomatic process in the Middle East.’ Who, exactly, is Israel’s dialogue representative? Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has pledged that a Palestinian state would not be established on his watch?”

“The Central Committee of the ruling Likud that has called on elected officials to impose Israeli law and sovereignty “on all the liberated areas of Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria” (that is, the West Bank, which Israel captured in the 1967 war)? Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, who is pushing ahead with the construction of 1,895 housing units in the West Bank, most of them (1,536) on lands slated for a future Palestinian state?” (more…)

 

© Copyright JFJFP 2024