Israel stymies French push to lift Hamas boycott

[DogPoundPup]

Using intense diplomatic pressure over the past two days, Israeli officials blocked a French attempt to weaken Jerusalem's stance with Hamas at the pre-written closing statement of the meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels last night.

France wanted the statement to say that the European Union would be prepared to hold talks with a future Palestinian unity government that agreed to honor the principles of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. In addition, the French delegation to Brussels proposed striking from the statement an article calling for reopening the crossing points between Israel and the Gaza Strip in accordance with the 2005 agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Instead France offered an ambiguous formulation that would make it possible to open the crossings without conditioning such a measure on the presence of representatives of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

In the past two days Israeli officials conducted a frenetic diplomatic battle to torpedo the unwanted changes, applying significant pressure on senior EU representatives. The Czech Republic, the current holder of the EU presidency, together with Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, worked together to push the French initiative off the agenda.

more: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1059097.html

[Jefferson23]

1. The Israeli government did that?? What a shock.