The Clueless European Union

Five days ago, On December 11, I wrote an article, "What do the Palestinians want?" (also in http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/9863), in which I claimed that they were merely bluffing when threatening to call for a unilateral declaration of statehood. I claimed that they put on an act, pretending to yearn for an independent state.

Since then, on December 13, the European Union has threatened to recognize an independent Palestinian state to punish Israeli refusal to halt "illegal" Jewish settlements. This was in response to Palestinian negotiator Nabil Shaath who had asked France, Britain, Sweden and Denmark and the European Union envoy to the peace process to recognize the truce lines before the 1967 Mideast war as the borders between Israel and a Palestinian state.

On December 15, Palestinian Authority's Prime Minister, Salam Fayyad, declared, on Israel's TV, that "the Palestinian Authority (PA) is not interested in another unilateral declaration of statehood." In other words, he said (I am paraphrasing here), that the PA was bluffing… Fayyad went further and explained that he did not see how a unilateral declaration would help the PA's cause. Such a declaration "is not and will not be a part of our thinking," he added. Apparently, when circumstances reached the point of "we have to deliver on our threat," there was nothing but an empty bag, filled with hot air.

What was obvious to me was not obvious to the professionals from the EU. It only proved once more that the EU governments are clueless when it comes to reading the tealeaves, which decorate the desert culture of those who practice "the religion of peace".