Israel and Europe are entering the final weeks of their negotiations over the EU’s recently adopted Israel Grants Guidelines. The attached analysis by the Kohelet Policy Forum, authored by two Senior Fellows, Prof. Avi Bell and Prof. Eugene Kontorovich, shows that the Guidelines are not, as the EU claims, required by international law. Moreover, they are discriminatory in that they are inconsistent with the EU’s policies in parallel situations.
The EU provides aid to numerous countries that maintain settlements in what Europe considers occupied territory, such as Morocco, Turkey, and Russia. In none of these cases has it imposed limitations on the aid akin to the Guidelines for Israel. Indeed, the report reveals that in some of these situations, the EU directly and openly funds the occupation regime and settlers.
Furthermore, the Guidelines undermine the Israeli-Palestinian peace process by seeking to foreclose issues that are preserved for negotiations and to undermine territorial arrangements that are established by existing agreements.
The paper presents important new information and will be essential to any discussion of the EU Guidelines, the ongoing Horizon 2020 negotiations, the legal status of settlements and EU-Israel relations. Kohelet encourages you to read the paper carefully and to respond with comments and queries.
EUs Israel Grants Guidelines: A Legal and Policy Analysis- Full Paper
EUs Israel Grants Guidelines A Legal and Policy Analysis – Executive Summary (Hebrew)
EUs Israel Grants Guidelines – Executive Summary (English)