Former EU leaders call for concrete measures against Israel

Twenty-six former EU leaders urged European countries to adopt a tougher stance towards Israel including taking 'concrete measures' and exacting 'consequences' over illegal settlement building.
(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - 'It is clear that without a rapid and dramatic move … a two-state solution, which forms the one and only available option for a peaceful resolution of this conflict, will be increasingly difficult to attain,' they warned in a joint letter.

The letter has been sent to EU president Herman van Rompuy, foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton and all EU heads of government ahead of foreign ministers attending their regular General Affairs Council meeting in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday.

Signatures include Britain’s former EU commissioner Chris Patten former EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, (pictured), former Irish president Mary Robinson and another nine former heads of state.

'Time to secure a sustainable peace is fast running out,' their joint letter warned, urging the EU, in co-operation with other international bodies, to forward a 'concrete and comprehensive proposal for the resolution of this conflict'.

It suggested that a deadline of April 2011 for progress in peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians should be set, after which the international community should intervene.

The unprecedented call comes after the US admitted failure in trying to persuade Israel to renew a moratorium on a partial freeze on illegal settlement building as a precondition for suspended talks with the Palestinians to continue.

The former EU leaders call for a clear timetable to be put together to resolve the conflict which has been going on since the creation of Israel on Palestinian land more than 60 years ago.

It also urges the EU to reiterate its position that it will not recognise any changes to the June 1967 boundaries, that a Palestinian state should be 'territory equivalent to 100% of the territory occupied in 1967', and that its capital should be East Jerusalem.

By way of sanctions, the former EU leaders warn that although the world’s largest trading bloc has always maintained that settlements are illegal, it has “not attached any consequences for continued and systematic settlement expansion.'

They also call for an end to the import of illegal settlement products 'which are, in contradiction with EU labelling recommendations, marketed as originating in Israel'.