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   From: mose@capp.com   
      
   "samson"  wrote in message   
   news:128e7e22-28cb-4871-918a-742082efab93@j14g2000yqm.googlegroups.com...   
      
   Catherine Ashton on Tuesday leveled scathing criticism at the "Israeli   
   occupation," in her first speech as the European Union's first high   
   representative for foreign affairs and security policy.   
      
   The British stateswoman, who has also served as the Commissioner for   
   Trade in the European Commission, said that in the EU's view, "East   
   Jerusalem is occupied territory, together with the West Bank."   
      
   Ashton demanded that Israel immediately lift its blockade on the Gaza   
   Strip, and reiterated that the union opposes the existence of the West   
   Bank separation fence, as it opposes evictions of Palestinians from   
   their homes in occupied East Jerusalem.   
      
   The stateswoman, whose full title is Baroness Ashton of Upholland,   
   also only defined Israel's partial freeze of West Bank settlement   
   construction as a "first step," as opposed to the warmer description   
   of the move by EU foreign ministers, who last week took "positive   
   note" of it.   
      
   In her address to MEPs in Strasbourg, Ashton, who was only recently   
   appointed to the new position, said she had spoken with Israelis,   
   Palestinians and the U.S. Secretary of State about the role the   
   Quartet of international mediators, and that of its special envoy to   
   the region, Tony Blair.   
      
   Ashton said she had told Blair personally that, "The Quartet [a   
   special group set up by the U.S., EU, UN and Russia] must demonstrate   
   that it is worth the money, that it is capable of being   
   reinvigorated."   
      
   Following her comments, a number of MEPs from the Liberal side of the   
   house called for punitive measures against Israel, including the   
   suspension of the EU's Association Agreement. Irish centre-left member   
   Proinsias De Rossa, who visited the West Bank last week, called   
   Israel's treatment of Palestinians a form of "apartheid."   
      
   This time it was neither the "infamous" Swedish president who pulled   
   the EU toward an anti-Israel resolution, nor a "daydreaming judge" in   
   Britain who issued an arrest warrant against an Israeli foreign   
   minister. Criticism of Israel has become the language of choice in   
   European discourse.   
      
   When the Israeli government offers new benefits to settlers, and peace   
   talks with the Palestinians are deadlocked, even the superpower's long   
   arm is helpless. Even former U.S. ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk, a   
   devout Jew who serves as an external advisor to U.S. President Barack   
   Obama, does not hide his chagrin with the settlements policy.   
      
   Indyk has recently told Haaretz in an interview that statements by   
   figures like Minister without Portfolio Benny Begin, according to   
   which settlement construction will continue despite the moratorium,   
   are damaging to Israel's interests. He said these comments, as well as   
   the decision to pump funds into isolated settlements, strengthen the   
   impression that the declaration of the freeze is not worth the paper   
   it is written on. He warned that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin   
   Netanyahu will pay a political price for the move, without gaining the   
   benefits which it was intended to grant Israel in the international   
   arena.   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)