EU MPs demand ending partnership pacts with Israel

Rasa - A group of European lawmakers demand the abolition of partnership agreements with the Israeli regime citing its persisting aggression against the Palestinian population.

News ID: 2487

Date: 10 May 2015 - 14:52

RNA - The European United Left bloc of the European Parliament expressed particular anger on Friday over a recent report on Israeli human rights abuses, calling for an end to partnership agreements with the Tel Aviv regime for what it referred to as “indiscriminate aggression” against Palestinian civilians, the Middle East Monitor reported on Saturday.

The development came in the wake of confessions by dozens of Israeli soldiers that participated in Israel’s massive onslaught on the besieged Gaza Strip last summer.

The Israeli troops admitted that they targeted the Palestinians deliberately and sometimes “for fun”.

A spokesperson for the EU lawmakers, Angel Vaina, demanded in a statement that Europe's Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini answer a number of questions on the Israeli regime’s human rights abuses.

Additionally, Vaina noted, there is a UN report that proves Tel Aviv forces killed 44 civilians and wounded 227 more in UN shelters during the Israeli onslaught.

He further underlined that the Geneva Conventions prohibits aggression against the offices of humanitarian organizations. "As such, we demand an end to economic preferences and dealing with this aggressive state," he said.

Tel Aviv is also under fire from the EU over plans to build hundreds of more illegal settler units in the occupied East al-Quds (Jerusalem).

The 28-member bloc said in a Saturday statement that the Tel Aviv regime’s plans are in fact an obstacle to the so-called peace process between Israel and Palestinians.

“Israel's determination to continue its settlement policy despite the urging of the international community not only threatens the viability of the two-state solution but also seriously calls into question its commitment to a negotiated agreement with the Palestinians,” the statement read.

The international community regards Israeli settlements built on the occupied Palestinian lands as illegal.

More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories in 1967.

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