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The European Union, which has been trying for decades to shoulder its way into playing a more important role in the global effort to establish a new Muslim Arab state on historically Jewish lands, is reportedly poised to unveil its latest plan for achieving this unprecedented act of state land theft.
Drafted by the French foreign ministry and entitled "The EU Action Strategy for Peace in the Middle East: The Way Forward," the scheme on the agenda for discussion when the EU's foreign ministers meet in the second week of December.
A copy of was leaked to the leftist Israeli daily, Ha'aretz, which published details from it at the top of its English-language website Sunday morning.
Because of Ha'aretz's constant effort to undermine Israel's security by promoting every new "peace plan" to emerge, it is probable someone in the EU arranged to float the document and gauge Israel's reaction before Europe's foreign ministers convene to discuss it.
The union is thought to have timed the document's release in order to have it in play before Barack Hussein Obama ascends to the presidency of the United States on January 20.
Describing it as "the EU's plans for advancing an Israeli-Palestinian deal in 2009," Ha'aretz said initial reaction among Israel' officials has been one of "alarm."
"Inter alia, it calls for increased pressure on Israel to reopen Palestinian institutions in Jerusalem, including Orient House, which formerly served as the Palestinian Authority's headquarters in the city," the paper said, and which gave the Arabs a strategic foot in what Israel calls its "eternal and undivided capital."
A central demand of the Arab world is that the central and most important parts of Jerusalem - with the Temple Mount, Israel's holiest site, at the top of the list - be included in a Palestinian state.
States the EU plan: "A key part of building the Palestinian state involves resolving the status of Jerusalem, as the future capital of two states. [Therefore] the EU will work actively towards the re-opening of the Palestinian institutions, including the Orient House."
Apart from this , a variety of other steps are proposed which the EU should pursue next year to push forward diplomatic efforts between Israel and both the Palestinian Arabs and Syria.
The newly elected American government must be "encouraged," it says, "to be actively engaged in Israeli-Palestinian talks." [Ed note: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's indefatigable efforts - she visited Jerusalem no less than 24 times to try and bully Israel into making more "gestures for peace" - were apparently not "active" enough for the Europeans.]
Part of this active engagement must be a close monitoring, or policing, of the implementation of the first stage of the so-called Road Map plan, which requires Israel to stop building communities in its biblical heartland and to dismantle the IDF checkpoints that keep Jews safe from terrorist attacks.
The European Union "expects a complete freeze of all settlement activities including natural growth, including in East Jerusalem [sic]."
It will continue to send "clear messages" to Israel and examine practical ways to more effectively influence these issues, including boycotting goods produced by Jews living in the "settlements."
Oh, and the PA's commitment to "fight terror" - a commitment it has manifestly not kept despite signing numerous agreements to do so; that should be monitored too.
To this end the EU - which is historically strongly biased against the Jewish state - will offer to send "policemen, soldiers or civilians to help train Palestinian security forces or," ominously, "to supervise implementation of a final-status agreement."
But in contrast to its strong communication of the sense that Israel remains intransigent and uncooperative, Ha'aretz reports that European document "praises the PA for having greatly improved security [sic] in the West Bank [sic], and therefore concludes that Israel must transfer additional large swathes of this territory to Palestinian security control."
The Israeli paper predicts that the proposals will lead to a "clash" with the new government Israelis will be electing on February 10, whether it will be headed by Kadima Party chairman Tzipi Livni or Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israelis are already anticipating that a Netanyahu government will find itself at loggerheads with the new Obama administration, which is expected to greatly increase pressure on Israel in any case, with or without advice/interference from the EU.
By drawing attention to the fact that all of Europe, too, will be lined up with Washington against Israel, Ha'aretz is suspected of seeking to influence Israelis away from voting for the almost universally-despised Netanyahu.
