After the tension last quarter over the territorial clause in the Horizon 2020 agreement, excluding Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem from eligibility for EU grants, the official EU rhetoric during this quarter emphasized instead the mutual benefits of cooperation. On 2/19 during a visit to Brussels, Israel’s Economy Minister Naftali Bennett held talks with European Parliament Pres. Martin Schulz just 1 week after the minister had slammed the German official for his Knesset address. On 3/17, foreign affairs chief Ashton affirmed Brussels’s opposition to a blanket boycott of all Israeli goods, and stressed the promise of “unprecedented” support for both Israel and a future state of Palestine in the event of a two-state solution agreement (a reference to the Special Privilege Partnership proposal). Ashton said the EU did not want “to see Israel isolated.” A week later, the EU’s Amb. to Israel Lars Faaborg-Anderson claimed (3/24) that the EU could provide financial compensation for Palestinian refugees and their descendants to assist “the implementation of any final peace agreement.” This was the 1st time a senior EU official had publicly made such an offer.
Despite such diplomatic moves to ease tensions, the EU took issue with Israel on numerous questions. On 3/21, a European Parliament Ad Hoc Delegation to the oPt said the Israeli authorities had refused to cooperate with their mission. The delegation had traveled to Israel to assess the conditions of Palestinian prisoners, but was unable to fulfil its mandate. On 3/22, Ashton expressed disappointment over Israeli settlement expansion, and urged a stop to construction plans. She repeated similar sentiments on 4/18, expressing “great concern” over an Israeli decision to declare an area of the Gush Etzion settlement bloc state land.
Also in 3/2014, a leaked internal report (3/28) by EU diplomats in Ramallah and Jerusalem warned of the possibility of regional instability should clashes at Haram al-Sharif escalate. The report also described how Israeli policies in East Jerusalem such as restrictions on freedom of movement and access to housing are infringing on the rights of its Palestinian residents. After talks broke down, EU FMs issued (5/12) a statement of concern about recent developments in Israel and the oPt, but their meeting in Brussels focused primarily on the Ukrainian crisis. The ministers said that the “extensive efforts deployed in recent mos. must not go to waste,” and also urged “all sides to exercise maximum restraint and to avoid any unilateral action that may further undermine peace efforts and the viability of a two-state solution, such as continued settlement expansion.” This latter reference, it was noted by Israeli commentators, was not accompanied by any parallel warning to the Palestinians about a specific policy deemed to be unhelpful.