Open Letter to Catherine Ashton
On February 6, 2014, less than two weeks after issuing a statement on the international Holocaust Remembrance Day without even once mentioning the Jews, Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, issued yet another statement condemning Israel for the audicity of allowing Jews to live in their own homeland.
Not having an email for Ashton herself, I sent the following email to her spokespersons.
I encourage others to send their own letters. Emails for Ashton's spokespersons are included after her statement.
There is a glaring inconsistency in EU High Representative Catherine Ashton's statement.
On the one hand, she expresses concern at the announcement of routine building plans by Israel in its capital, on the grounds that they prejudge "the final status of Jerusalem."
On the other hand, she complains they "put at risk the prospects of Jerusalem becoming the capital of two states," thus herself prejudging the "final status of Jerusalem."
In reality, everyone knows the areas in which the building will be done will remain with Israel under any conceivable peace agreement. On the other hand, having a handful more Jews reside in those areas risks nothing regarding negotiations unless one believes in ethnic cleansing and supports the racist demand of the so-called "moderate" leader of the Palestinian Authority that all areas placed under its control be judenrein.
It is not building residential housing which damages the prospects for peace; it is statements like this from the DU High Representative which both damage the prospects for peace and are morally reprehensible.
Sincerely,
Alan H. Stein
The following is Ashton's statement.
Thursday, February 6, 2014STATEMENT by EU High Representative Catherine Ashton on the Israeli settlement announcement of 5 February 2014
Brussels, 06 February 2014
140206/02
STATEMENT by EU High Representative Catherine Ashton on the Israeli settlement announcement of 5 February 2014
www.eeas.europa.eu/statements/docs/2014/140206_02_en.pdf
The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the Commission, issued the following statement today:
"I am deeply concerned at the announcement by the Jerusalem municipal authorities of their approval of building permits for 558 new units in East Jerusalem, in Har Homa, Neve Yaakov and Pisgat Zeev.
These plans could put at risk the prospects of Jerusalem becoming the capital of two states and, in particular, the territorial contiguity between East Jerusalem and the southern West Bank.
The EU and the international community have repeatedly warned that any unilateral action prejudging the final status of Jerusalem threatens the current peace negotiations and, as a consequence, the two-state solution. Any such developments must be avoided at all costs.
I urge the Israeli authorities to reconsider their plans and to reverse their decision."
FOR FURTHER DETAILS:
Michael Mann +32 498 999 780 - +32 2 584 9780- Michael.Mann@eeas.europa.eu @EUHighRepSpox
Maja Kocijancic +32 498 984 425 - +32 2 298 65 70 - Maja.Kocijancic@ec.europa.eu @AshtonSpox_
Maja Sebastien Brabant +32 460 75 09 98 - Sebastien.Brabant@ec.europa.eu
Nabila Massrali +32 460 75 41 75 – Nabila.Massrali@ec.europa.eu
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