RAMALLAH, – Palestinian and European civil society organizations called on the European Union to hold Israel accountable for its acts in the occupied Palestinian territories and not reward it for these actions.
More than 20 Palestinian and 40 European civil society organizations wrote a letter to Josep Borrell, High Representative of the EU Foreign Policy and Security, and foreign ministers of European Union Member States “to express our deep concern regarding the decision to renew the EU – Israel Association Council, which seeks to resume formal dialogue and strengthen cooperation with Israel and mainstream the very problematic “Abraham Accords”.
The letter said that the renewal of the Association Council “will further normalize authoritarian and oppressive practices instead of democratic values and human rights, and will continue to omit the entrenching violations under international law that are being committed against the Palestinian people.”
“The Association Council is planned to reconvene at a time where Israel has intensified its attacks against the Palestinian people, including European citizens. Already more than 140 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military in Palestine since the beginning of the year, without anyone being held accountable. Over the past few months, the Israeli military has repeatedly invaded Palestinian refugee camps and cities including Jenin and Nablus in the occupied West Bank, killing more than 27 Palestinians in Jenin alone. Those illegal raids have led to the targeted killing of the journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in May 2022, whose family continues to seek justice and accountability,” said the organizations in the letter that went on to cite many other Israeli violations against the Palestinians throughout the occupied territories and over the years.
“Instead of allowing Israel to entrench its colonial enterprise and apartheid regime, rewarding it with further economic cooperation and trade of harmful military equipment and technologies, the EU and its Member States have an obligation and interest to hold Israel accountable and put an end to impunity,” they said, calling on the EU to review its decision to resume the Association Council Meeting and recently signed cooperation agreements with Israel, and “to hold Israel accountable for its persistent crimes and human rights violations committed against the Palestinian people.”
Source: Palestine News & Info Agency