EU: Israeli “occupation” is root cause of violence
EU states, in an internal report drafted last year, have said the outbreak of Arab Muslim knife and car-ramming attacks against Israelis in Jerusalem is due to Israel’s occupation.
They said the attacks began after right-wing Israeli politicians and religious groups began to question the status quo on Arab rights at the Temple Mount complex in the Old City.
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But they added that living conditions forPalestinians and the loss of hope in a two-state solution formed the psychological “root” of the violence.
The report, drafted and endorsed in December 2015 by all the EU countries that have embassies in Jerusalem and Ramallah, said the Temple Mount developments were the “proximate cause” for the upsurge in violence that began after summer last year.
But it said the “heart of the matter” was “the Israeli occupation since 1967 and a long-standing policy of political, economic and social marginalisation of Palestinians in Jerusalem”.
It said that the “new reality” came “against a backdrop of deep frustration amongst Palestinians over the effects of the occupation, and a lack of hope that a negotiated solution can bring it to an end”.
The 39-page paper, seen by EUobserver, is part of regular reporting by EU diplomats in the region.
It is not meant to be published, but is designed to act as a reference document for meetings of EU foreign ministers in Brussels and for proposals put forth by the EU foreign service.
The report noted that the attacks were “spontaneous in nature” and mostly involved “youngPalestinian men and women … acting without the apparent direction of political factions or militantgroups”.
