EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Despite the carnage wrought by Israel on the civilian population of the Gaza Strip, the Jewish state's ambassador to the European Union, Ran Curiel, has said that the conflict should not have any effect on the planned upgrade of relations between Israel and the EU. "I don't expect any change to the process of upgrading relations," he told a group of journalists in Brussels. "The positions of Israel and the EU are actually converging." Israeli flag: it was announced in June last year to take relations between the two sides to a higher level In June last year, the EU-Israel Association Council - the body headed by foreign ministers that conducts the bilateral relations between Israel and EU - announced an upgrade in relations between the two parties. Accelerated negotiations were subsequently launched on the specific nature of the upgrade in three areas; increased diplomatic co-operation; participation in European plans and agencies; and possible Israeli integration into the European single market. "We have done this [the assault on Gaza] reluctantly and without a choice," he said. "Our citizens are daily exposed to a sort of game of Russian roulette from the Hamas rockets. I don't know of any country that could allow its citizens to be subjected to such imminent danger without reacting."
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Despite the carnage wrought by Israel on the civilian population of the Gaza Strip, the Jewish state's ambassador to the European Union, Ran Curiel, has said that the conflict should not have any effect on the planned upgrade of relations between Israel and the EU.
"I don't expect any change to the process of upgrading relations," he told a group of journalists in Brussels. "The positions of Israel and the EU are actually converging."
Israeli flag: it was announced in June last year to take relations between the two sides to a higher level
In June last year, the EU-Israel Association Council - the body headed by foreign ministers that conducts the bilateral relations between Israel and EU - announced an upgrade in relations between the two parties.
Accelerated negotiations were subsequently launched on the specific nature of the upgrade in three areas; increased diplomatic co-operation; participation in European plans and agencies; and possible Israeli integration into the European single market.
"We have done this [the assault on Gaza] reluctantly and without a choice," he said. "Our citizens are daily exposed to a sort of game of Russian roulette from the Hamas rockets. I don't know of any country that could allow its citizens to be subjected to such imminent danger without reacting."
The European Union must put all hopes of building a closer relationship with Israel on hold until the fighting in the Gaza Strip ends, a group of leading aid agencies said Wednesday, Jan. 7. It would be "inconceivable" for the EU to work for closer ties with Israel at a time when the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip has been "pushed to crisis point" by Israel's assault on the salient, the statement by groups including Oxfam and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) said. "This is not the time to be awarding benefits to a party to the conflict ... The EU cannot proceed with upgrading its relations with Israel while such violations are taking place," FIDH president Souhayr Belhassen said in the joint statement. Israel is a member of the EU's Neighborhood Policy, which is aimed at helping EU neighbors stabilize and improve their economic and political systems.
It would be "inconceivable" for the EU to work for closer ties with Israel at a time when the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip has been "pushed to crisis point" by Israel's assault on the salient, the statement by groups including Oxfam and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) said.
"This is not the time to be awarding benefits to a party to the conflict ... The EU cannot proceed with upgrading its relations with Israel while such violations are taking place," FIDH president Souhayr Belhassen said in the joint statement.
Israel is a member of the EU's Neighborhood Policy, which is aimed at helping EU neighbors stabilize and improve their economic and political systems.
