EU Statement Considers East Jerusalem as Occupied Land But Weakened by French Zionist Bernard Kouchner

PA leaders divided over EU statement

Published today 10:03 [Ma'anImages] Bethlehem – Ma’an –

The Palestinian Authority leadership in the West Bank did not react to the European Union's statement on Jerusalem this week with one voice.

President Abbas said he was pessimistic about the statement because he said it was too vague. Prime Minister Salam Fayyad rushed to welcome and praise the ministerial statement which called for a Palestinian state with its capital in Jerusalem.

The director of Abbas’ office, Al-Tayyib Abdul-Rahim, who is also a member of the Fat'h Central Committee, angrily denounced the statement and blamed French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner for weakening its language.

Iyad Al-Serraj, the Gaza psychiatrist now working with Egypt to compel Hamas and Fat'h to resume reconciliation talks, said the statement would help his efforts, despite the fact that the final draft removed a clause calling for Palestinian unity.

Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat dismissed the suggestion, however, that Palestinian official opinion was divided on the EU statement.

“I don’t see any difference in the Palestinian position towards the statement,” He told Ma’an’s radio network on Thursday.

“First of all there is a common ground on welcoming the statement. I would like to thank the counties of the European Union for the important step they took, he added.

He said the EU’s decision would speed up the PA’s efforts to approach the UN Security Council seeking a resolution supporting the creation of a Palestinian state.

“Latin American countries, African countries and non- aligned countries all support the decision which will make it difficult for the US to stand in the way of this statement,” Erekat said.

“The statement is very strong as it reaffirmed [the EU’s] rejection of the annexation of Jerusalem, and settlement, considering the 1967 borders as Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which means that Jerusalem is the capital for the two states through negotiations,” The negotiator added.

He admitted though that Palestinians hoped the EU would endorse an original draft introduced by Sweden, which had stronger language.

“All of these issues are important but we hoped to have the final text to be left as it was submitted by the Swedish minister of foreign affairs,” he said.

“In the end Europe does not have one foreign policy but rather 27 – that is where difference came from,” he added.
He noted that Israel did not welcome the statement as a whole, but rather praised the fact that the final version adopted softer language.

Also on Thursday France said it welcomed the EU ministerial statement.

”As we hoped, this important text calls for the urgent resumption of peace negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians, and between the Israelis and Syrians,” France’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

“The resumption of negotiations as early as possible is the most effective way to successfully establish an independent, democratic and viable State of Palestine, living side by side with Israel in peace and security,” it added.

Dutch Envoy, Jack Twiss Quarles, EU Considers East Jerusalem as Occupied Land

Published yesterday (updated) 10/12/2009 16:09

Bethlehem – Ma’an –

The thrust of the EU foreign ministers’ statement passed on Tuesday was to confirm that East Jerusalem was occupied territory, Holland’s envoy to the Palestinian Authority said on Thursday.

Jack Twiss Quarles van Ufford, the head of the Netherlands’ Representative Office in Ramallah, said the ministerial statement “reconfirms that East Jerusalem is considered occupied territory, like the rest of the West Bank.”

“The parties can agree in negotiations on a different solution, but that’s not where we are now,” he told Ma’an in an interview.

Van Ufford also downplayed reports that the final version of the foreign ministers’ statement was more moderate than a draft leaked to the media last week.

“Obviously when you negotiate with 27 member states,” changes will be made, he said of the document.

While both Israel and the PA welcomed the declaration, officials on both sides said the statement included milder language than the original draft. A comparison of the two versions shows that additional references to negotiations were added, and a section calling for Palestinian unity was removed.

The Dutch official said he was optimistic that Israel and the PA could return to negotiations: “That’s my hope and the hope of my government.”

Van Ufford was visiting Bethlehem on Thursday on the occasion of the UN’s Human Rights Day. He attended a performance at Fineiq Hall in Ad-Duheisha Refugee Camp where the puppet characters from the children’s television show Sesame Street acted out sketches about human rights.

Fair Use Notice

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.