European Coalition for Israel

Brussels, 3 December, 2009 – European Coalition for Israel has today in an open letter to the Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt urged the Swedish government to reconsider the proposed unilateral declaration for a Palestinian state and for East-Jerusalem as its future capital. The Swedish government, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, has written a draft document which will be discussed next week on Monday and Tuesday at a meeting with EU-foreign ministers in Brussels, after which a statement outlining EU’s Middle East policy is expected.

- “This declaration clearly goes against the Oslo accords as well as the stated intentions of the quartet, where also the EU is a member, together with the US, the UN and Russia. The quartet has previously agreed about the importance of a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to avoid an imposed solution by any outside part”, states the letter. “The recent Israeli governments have gone further than any other governments in the history of the Jewish state in giving up territory without receiving anything in return. The unilateral withdrawals from Gaza and southern Lebanon did not give peace and security for Israel but further escalation of Palestinian violence and attacks on Israeli civilian targets.”

The letter goes on to concluding that “European history should have taught us that appeasement and compromise do not give any foundation for true peace.” ECI therefore calls on the EU foreign ministers to reconsider the planned statement, to honor the commitments in the Road map to peace and to avoid any further mistrust and alienation between the European Union and Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East.

The Swedish EU-presidency, which started on 1 July and will conclude in less than a month, has been tainted with disagreements and distrust between the two sides. Earlier in the year the Swedish government refused to distance itself from an anti-Semitic article which was published in the tabloid Aftonbladet and accused the Israeli Defense Force of stealing organs from dead Palestinians. Foreign Minister Carl Bildt will go to history as the only foreign minister in recent time who has not visited Israel during his time as the EU chief representative for foreign affairs.

The Swedish EU-presidency will come to an end on 31 December and will then be taken over by the Spanish government.