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Europe Takes Stronger Measures, Albeit Symbolic, to Condemn Israeli Policies
(New York Times) Steven Erlanger - European nations, Israel's largest trading partners, are taking stronger measures to support Palestinian sovereignty and condemn Israeli policies. Yet Israeli leaders reject much of the European criticism of their policies as betraying a deep bias or lack of understanding. It is Palestinian leaders, not Israelis, they say, who have declined to engage substantively in the peace process. They argue that radical Islamists among the Palestinians, including Hamas, conduct armed struggle and terrorist attacks against Israelis, leaving the country no choice but to take tough security measures. Dore Gold, a former Israeli ambassador to the UN and president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, said, "In general, these European initiatives don't contribute to diplomacy, and strengthen the Palestinian proclivity for unilateralism, so they can have the exact opposite effect from what Europeans want."