Israel is waging an intensive lobbying campaign inside the EU to keep it from stripping products made beyond the Green Line, which separates Israel and the Palestinian lands, of their duty-free status.
The issue will be high on the agenda of the Israel-EU Association meeting next week in Brussels, Israeli diplomats told the Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.
According to these officials, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres discussed the issue with his EU counterparts during the UN General Assembly meeting this week, and the Israeli delegation in Brussels is in constant contact with the EU Commission there about the matter.
The EU has been threatening since 1998 to take away the duty-free status of products made beyond the Green Line, including products made in occupied eastern Jerusalem and the Golan.
The Green Line marks the UN-delineated boundary of Israel, as opposed to Palestinian land conquered in 1967 and settled with Israeli citizens in moves internationally regarded as illegal.
According to the Guardian newspaper, the EU is poised to announce as early as Monday an end to this practice, which goes back some 25 years. The association meeting will be preceded on Monday by a gathering of the 15 foreign ministers of the EU, where the issue is expected to be raised, said the report.
According to the paper, restrictions on the duty-free status reflect "anger in Brussels with the government of the prime minister, Ariel Sharon, whose policy of 'targeted assassinations' of Palestinian fighters, and prolonged closures of the West Bank and Gaza are blamed for making a bad situation worse." – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
