EU-Israel: Jerusalem at boiling point of polarisation and violence says EU report - by Peter Beaumont

Israeli Settlements West Bank A Stumble Block to Peace

A hard-hitting EU report on Jerusalem warns that the city has reached a dangerous boiling point of “polarization and violence” not seen since the end of the second intifada in 2005.

Calling for tougher European sanctions against Israel over its continued settlement construction in the city – which it blames for exacerbating recent conflict – the leaked document paints a devastating picture of a city more divided than at any time since 1967, when Israeli forces occupied the east of the city.

The report has emerged amid strong indications that the Obama administration is also rethinking its approach to Israel and the Middle East peace process following the re-election of Binyamin Netanyahu as Israel’s prime minister.

According to reports in several US papers, this may include allowing the passage of a UN security council resolution restating the principle of a two-state solution.

The leaked report describes the emergence of a “vicious cycle of violence … increasingly threatening the viability of the two-state solution”, which it says has been stoked by the continuation of “systematic” settlement building by Israel in “sensitive areas” of Jerusalem.

Note EU-Digest: Even though most democratic nations applaud the democracy and parliamentary system of Israel, one must also, unfortunately, conclude, that there are presently some 4.5 million people living in the Israeli occupied areas of Palestine,  who are completely disenfranchised and have no voting rights. 

Read more: Jerusalem at boiling point of polarisation and violence – EU report | World news | The Guardian