EU Commission Notice - as good as it seems?

A stop sign outside the West Bank settlement of Ma’aleh Adumim. Photo by Reuters

This week, the European Union release a Commission Notice saying that Israeli entities beyond the Green Line (in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights) will not benefit from funding for grants, projects and programs from the EU.  The announcement caused an uproar in Israeli media.  Of course the Israeli government was less than happy about the Commission Notice.  

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded aggressively, while falling back on direct negotiations, which he has never shown a real interest in:

I will not allow the hundreds of thousands of Israelis living in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), the Golan Heights and Jerusalem to be harmed. We will not follow any demands regarding our borders. These issues will be resolved only through direct negotiations." 

Naftali Bennet called it an "'economic terror attack' that has 'destroyed any possibility of negotiations.'"

Many Israelis wrote in support of the EU guidelines.

Noam Sheizaf, in her article entitled The Day Europe Got Israeli's Attention, wrote: "The European Union's decision to limit all joint projects with Israel beyond the pre-1967 borders accomplished what all of President Obama’s speeches and Secretary of State Kerry’s diplomatic missions have failed to – it put the occupation back as the top story on the Israeli agenda."

Nehemia Strasler claimed that the EU Commission Notice is finally an action from the EU, instead of words: "For decades the Europeans only talked and threatened. For decades they were led astray by our right-wing governments that promised negotiations and a construction freeze in the settlements. This time the Europeans got tired and took action; they're stopping funding, grants and awards to any Israeli entity linked to the settlements."

He continued saying that this is the first step to more sanctions, which will begin to be felt by the public: They understand that when the public feels the sanctions in the form of lower salaries, rising prices and increasing unemployment, it will realize that it's impossible to fool all the world all the time." Once the public feels these sanctions, the government will be forced to face them.

Gideon Levy claimed that this is a critical juncture:  "The country finds itself at a critical juncture over whether to continue to maintain the occupation and pay the unbearable price, or whether to end the occupation, albeit outrageously late, and return Israel to the family of nations as a member in good standing."

As you know, I support boycott and the EU Commission may be a big step in holding Israel accountable for its actions. Israelis seem to know that sanctions will be felt by the public, the Occupation will become a topic in the forefront of the Israeli mind, and the government will then be forced to face the fact that the Occupation is no longer sustainable if it wants its country to live prosperous and in security.

But is the EU Commission Notice as good as it seems?

+972 magazine reported pointed out that the Commission Notice details that: “The place of establishment is understood to be the legal address where the entity is registered, as confirmed by practice postal address corresponding to a concrete physical location.”

This means that numerous Israeli companies operating in the Occupied West Bank but have their offices in Tel Aviv or Airport City in Israeli proper, such as SodaStream, AHAVA, and Agrexco, may avoid the consequences of the EU Commission Notice.

In addition the Commission Notice does not bar member states from funding programs in the West Bank: "It applies to EU-funded programs but is not binding to member state programs. It means that Ariel University, for instance, cannot benefit from EU funding, but a member state can decide to fund it or conduct a joint program with it."

A happy ending

As for me, I hope that the EU Commission Notice will lead to a happy ending: an action against Israel's illegal settlement activity, which will lead the public to feel the effects of the occupation, who in the end will hold the government accountable and call it to end the occupation.  We will see, however, the effects of these new regulations on the ground, and whether the Israeli government and the Israeli people will continue to ignore the ongoing occupation.