A report by the European Union’s legal services on the ruling of the UN’s International Court of Justice in late July that Israel’s settlements in Palestine “violate international law” considers that stronger measures against Israel at the expense of settlers based on that ruling are unnecessary. The EU’s External Action Service (EEAS) asked its legal services to analyse how the Union and its Member States should act following the ICJ ruling on the occupied territories (the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem), which demands that “no aid or assistance” be provided to maintain the occupation, amid growing calls for an arms embargo on Israel and products it sells from the occupied areas and in a context of increasing violence by Israeli occupation troops in the West Bank.
The report, which Morning Express has had access to, points out that the ruling of the judges of the United Nations court – which arose from a case prior to Israel’s war in Gaza after the Hamas attacks that are about to turn one year old – is not binding and that the position now maintained by the EU “is in line” with the duty of international organisations not to recognise the occupation as legal and that, therefore, and despite everything, from a legal point of view things can continue as they have until now.
“It will be a matter of political analysis whether to review EU policy on importing goods from settlements,” says the document, which will be sent to member states for analysis. The EU has imposed sanctions on several violent West Bank settlers and organisations. But as with everything related to Israel, partners are divided on whether to go further by targeting not only the settlers but other umbrella organisations linked to the Israeli government or even further, as the settlers are supported by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and the army. High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Josep Borrell proposed in the summer to sanction two Israeli ministers and another organisation linked to the settlers.
The new document from the EU legal service has revived the debate on the European position towards Israel and on the laxity of some countries. And it does so at a particularly delicate and heated moment, when the Israeli army has attacked southern Lebanon with bombings that it claims are aimed at the Hezbollah militia, but, as in the case of the war against Gaza, where civilian deaths are counted in the tens of thousands, they have caused dozens of victims among the general population in recent days. The Union fears that the escalation on Lebanon will end in a total war.
In July, the EU Human Rights Commissioner sent a damning report to member states outlining Israel’s multiple violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza and the West Bank, reminding capitals of their obligation not to assist those who commit such abuses and to avoid exporting weapons that contribute to them. Countries such as Spain and Ireland, which has also recognised Palestine as a state, have called on the European Commission to review the trade association agreement with Israel due to these violations, but the EU executive has not made any move and countries such as Austria and the Czech Republic are extremely reluctant to address the issue.
At its last summit in the summer, the European Council discussed the possibility of putting on the table new restrictive measures on settlers in the West Bank and condemned the Israeli government’s decisions to continue expanding illegal settlements throughout the occupied West Bank.
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In July, the UN court concluded not only that Israel’s practices amount to annexation and occupation and are illegal, it also found that Israeli restrictions on Palestinians in the occupied territories constitute “systemic discrimination” and that the Jewish state has illegally exploited Palestinian natural resources and violated the right to self-determination. With these findings, the judges advise states to avoid any action that would maintain the status quo.
Hence the request for an opinion from the EU’s legal services. The report notes, however, that the EU has a long-standing policy of not recognising any changes to the 1967 borders between Israel and the West Bank. It also notes that it is committed to working within the UN framework to achieve an equitable two-state solution to the conflict – which implies the establishment of a Palestinian state and thus an end to the Israeli occupation of the occupied Palestinian territory. And it notes that in terms of helping to maintain the current status and assisting Israel, EU law requires that food products be labelled as originating in the West Bank and settlements.
