{At the end of a day in which international organizations in Europe severely rebuked Israel, and the French were poised to submit a joint resolution with the Jordanians and Palestinians to the UN Security Council calling for a Palestinian state in two years, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a \u201cspirit of appeasement\u201d is blowing through Europe.}<\/p>\n
Speaking Wednesday evening at a reception for foreign journalists, Netanyahu cited three decisions \u2013 the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg\u2019s taking Hamas off the EU\u2019s terrorist list, the European Parliament\u2019s resolution backing Palestinian statehood, and the call at a meeting of the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to investigate Israel for supposed violations of that convention \u2013 as indicating Europe\u2019s interest in appeasing the \u201cvery forces that threaten Europe itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cToo many in Europe are calling on Israel to make concessions that would endanger not only the security of Israel, but also \u2013 paradoxically \u2013 the security of Europe,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Israel is the forward position of European civilization.<\/p>\n
Israel is the bulwark of European values. Israel is the pluralist, vibrant, multi-party democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Israel, he said, \u201cis an embattled democracy in a region plagued by totalitarianism, tyranny, and Islamist terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n
The prime minister said Israel is forced to defend itself against terrorists who committed \u201cdouble war crimes,\u201d firing indiscriminately on Israeli civilians while using their own people as human shields.<\/p>\n
Yet the focus at the meeting in Geneva, he said, was that Israel must be investigated for war crimes.<\/p>\n
Israel, along with the US, Canada, Australia, and Rwanda, boycotted the meeting that said the Jewish state\u2019s settlement policies in the West Bank and Jerusalem conflict with its responsibilities as an occupying power under the Fourth Geneva Convention.<\/p>\n
The declaration at the end of the meeting said that \u201cserious violations of international humanitarian law must be investigated and that all those responsible should be brought to justice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Netanyahu said of the meeting, \u201cWhat hypocrisy, what a travesty. I ask, where is elementary European integrity?\u201d Referring to the argument that the current wave of diplomatic rebukes coming from Europe is the result of deep frustration on the continent regarding the situation in the Middle East, Netanyahu said that Israel, too, is frustrated with the situation in the Middle East.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are frustrated that our Palestinian neighbors refuse to recognize the right of the Jewish people to a state of their own,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are frustrated that our Palestinian neighbors continue to incite against Jews and the Jewish state, creating a climate of hatred and violence. We are frustrated that they refuse to negotiate seriously about our legitimate security concerns.<\/p>\n
And in this part of the world, there can be no genuine peace without security, for peace will not last if it cannot be defended.\u201d<\/p>\n
The simple truth, he said, was that \u201chalf of Palestinian society has been taken over by Islamic extremists who openly call for Israel\u2019s destruction, while the other half refuses to confront the first half.<\/p>\n
So when the Europeans say, \u2018We are frustrated,\u2019 we say, \u2018Join the club.\u2019\u201d But frustration, he said, must not be an excuse for \u201cwrong policy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Israeli officials said that one manifestation of this \u201cwrong policy\u201d is the French UN Security Council resolution that is under discussion in the corridors of the United Nations and that might be merged with a Jordanian resolution.<\/p>\n
While the US has made clear that it would veto the Palestinian resolution, which calls for a full Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines within two years, it is not clear how Washington would respond to a more moderate French\/Palestinian resolution.<\/p>\n
It is also unclear when that resolution would be tabled, with Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour telling reporters Wednesday that the Palestinians hoped to have a resolution \u201cin blue\u201d by the end of the day \u2013 meaning they hoped to present the draft to the Security Council for a vote 24 hours later.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I think it will happen,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
One leaked draft of the resolution calls for an agreement within two years based on the following parameters:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Borders based on the pre-1967 lines with \u201cmutually agreed limited equivalent land swaps\u201d
\n \u2022 Security agreements that respect the sovereignty of a non-militarized state of Palestine, \u201cincluding through a full-phased withdrawal of Israeli security forces that will end the occupation that began in 1967 over an agreed transition period in a reasonable time frame.\u201d
\n \u2022 An \u201cagreed, just, fair, and realistic solution to the refugee question, including a viable mechanism to provide for reparation, resettlement, compensation, and other agreed measures for a conclusive resolution\u201d
\n \u2022 Jerusalem as the shared capital of the two states, such that it fulfills the aspirations of both parties and protects freedom of worship
\n \u2022 An agreed settlement of other outstanding issues, including water The resolution skirts the contentious issue of Palestinian recognition of Israel as the Jewish state, citing UN General Assembly resolution 181 from November 29, 1947, which called for the partition of British-ruled Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states.<\/p>\n
The draft resolution also says the Security Council \u201clooks forward to welcoming Palestine as a full member of the United Nations\u201d \u2013 a phrase that both European and Israeli diplomats have interpreted to mean that if an agreement is not reached within two years, the UN will give full statehood recognition to \u201cPalestine.\u201d<\/p>\n
While not referring specifically to this resolution, Netanyahu said that when EU member states called for the recognition of a Palestinian state, \u201cwhy should the Palestinian leadership demonstrate responsible behavior? Why should the Palestinian leadership jettison its maximalist and extreme positions? Why should it abandon its call to flood Israel with millions of Palestinians? Why should the PA do any of this if its extremist and irresponsible behavior is rewarded time and again by European parliaments?\u201d The prime minister said that declarations of recognizing \u201cPalestine\u201d reinforced Palestinian intransigence, \u201cpushing peace further away.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a simple truth that cannot be ignored,\u201d he said. \u201cPeace will only come when the Palestinians are willing to confront their own extremists. Instead of embracing the militants, the PA should fight them; instead of rewarding Palestinian intransigence, the European democracies should support the one and only democracy in the Middle East.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a related development, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman has rejected requests to meet with Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstr\u00f6m when she visits Jerusalem next month, because of the way Sweden went about recognizing \u201cPalestine.\u201d<\/p>\n
In October, the Swedish government became the first major European country to recognize the state of \u201cPalestine,\u201d unleashing a wave of calls for similar moves in numerous parliaments across the continent.<\/p>\n
Diplomatic officials said Sweden had made this move without informing Israel in advance or heeding any of its arguments. The decision to snub the Swedish foreign minister, one official said, was meant to \u201csend a message.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maya Shwayder contributed to this report from New York. <\/p>\n
Jerusalem Post<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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