The EU largely limited its involvement on the Israel-Palestine issue to the Quartet this quarter, focusing instead on issues related to Iran and the Arab Spring.
Of note: EU foreign policy adviser Catherine Ashton, speaking (3/20) at a conference on Palestinian refugees in Brussels, expressed condolences for a 3/19 attack on a Jewish school in Toulouse, France, and regret over recent tragedies worldwide that had resulted in child casualties, citing among them recent Israeli air strikes on Gaza (3/9–12) that wounded 14 Palestinian children. Israeli PM Netanyahu denounced (3/20) her for making “the comparison between a deliberate massacre of children and defensive, surgical actions.” Ashton’s spokesman issued (3/20) a statement saying that her words had been “grossly distorted.”
On a bilateral level: Israel and Italy reached (2/16) a $1-b. agreement for Israel to purchase 30 M-346 training jets to replace the Israeli air force’s aging training fleet of U.S. Skyhawks. Italy agreed to reciprocate by purchasing $1 b. in Israeli defense equipment.
Britain’s foreign secy. William Hague met with Israel’s vice PM Dan Meridor on a 2-day official visit to Israel. Talks covered Iran but focused on economic cooperation.
In Toulouse, France, a 24-yr.-old French gunman of Algerian descent, Mohammed Merah, opened fire (3/19) on a Jewish school, killing a rabbi and 4 students (all dual French-Israeli citizens) and wounding another 6 students (1 seriously) before escaping. When Merah on 3/21 claimed responsibilities for the school killings as well as those of 2 French soldiers several days before, he said he had acted to protest French intervention in Afghanistan and to avenge the deaths of Palestinian children killed by the IDF in Gaza. Before jumping to his death from an apartment building in a stand-off with police, he claimed to have received alQa‘ida training, but the French authorities believed he acted alone and had no serious links to al-Qa‘ida or other groups.