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Impartial EU Labeling Would Inspire Israeli Trust
(Jerusalem Post) Dan Diker - While EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini insists that the EU labeling of products from the West Bank fits with its policy of "engagement" on the peace process, Israel, for its part, has lost trust in the EU, with unprecedented condemnations of EU policy encompassing both government and opposition leaders. To regain Israeli trust by adopting a fair and impartial approach, the EU should label products impartially, reflecting the claims of both sides over the disputed territory in the West Bank. The current EU labeling guidelines are inaccurate and partial to Palestinian demands. The current EU labeling protocols fail the impartiality test. They neglect to recognize any Israeli rights in the disputed former West Bank of Jordan, which all Israelis recognize by the historical name "Judea and Samaria." These territories have constituted the heart and soul of three Jewish sovereign entities over the past 3,000 years. Today, these territories also constitute an essential natural barrier against possible Islamic State, Hamas and Islamic Jihad attacks on Israel's strategic interior from the hills overlooking Ben-Gurion Airport. In short, these lands ensure that Israel's narrow borders are defensible. The writer, former secretary general of the World Jewish Congress, is project director of Political Warfare at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.