Zie Parliament gives consent to EU-Israel ACAA agreement, in een ECCP-verklaring van 30 oktober met als ondertitel 'Europe once again rewards Israel in spite of violations of International Law ':

- On October 23rd the European Parliament adopted the EU-Israel ACAA trade agreement by 379 votes to 230, with 41 abstentions despite the escalation of Israel’s illegal settlement policies and the entrenchment of its occupation of Palestinian lands. The vote was prompted by last month’s decision of the International Trade committee which, by a single vote, decided to oppose a further suspension of the agreement.

- MEPs who voted in favor of the agreement send a dangerous signal to the Israeli government: continued settlement construction, denial of the basic rights of the Palestinian people, inhuman and degrading treatment of prisoners and the collective punishment of the population of Gaza will, in practice, be rewarded.

- The consent given by the European Parliament also exposes the EU’s contradictions and inability to adjust its policies to its own stated positions. Failure to address the legal and technical issues that will be posed during the agreement’s implementation amounts to endorsing Israel’s settlement activity in a way that violates the EU’s own obligations under international law. It is in stark contradiction to the European Parliament’s own resolution on East Jerusalem which called for “full and effective implementation of existing EU legislation and EU-Israel bilateral agreements”.

- Nevertheless, the ECCP would like to thank the 232 MEPs who, citing concerns with Israeli violations of international law and the fact that the agreement will provide political and economic support for Israel’s illegal settlements, voted against the implementation of this new EU-Israel trade protocol.

- The ECCP would also like to thank the thousands of campaigners and human rights defenders who have sent more than 50,000 messages to their MEPs and the dozens of organisations that joined the campaign. Their commitment ensured that the debate on ACAA addressed the political issues at hand, rather than taking place in technical terms, as Israel and its supporters had tried to ensure.

- The vote on ACAA shows that the active participation in campaigns to combat the support afforded to the Israeli State by the EU is more important than ever. Popular pressure must be continued and strengthened to demand that the EU upholds its international human rights commitments.

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Voorts: De volgende in het Europees Parlement te bespreken overeenkomst tussen de EU en Israel is het 'Protocol on the participation of Israel in Community programmes'.

Van de Nederlandse EP-leden stemden 65% voor ACAA, dat is 6% meer dan het totale percentage voorstemmers. Alle Nederlandse EP-leden stemden overeenkomstig hun partijlijn. Nederlandse EP-sprekers (Marietje Schaake en Ria Oomen, D66 en CDA) spraken mooie mensenrechtenwoorden, maar stemden toch voor.

Zie in het verslag de uitgesproken teksten. 

Zie hier het stemgedrag per lid. Zie voorts per land en per partij.

Voorstemmers van ACAA zagen de overeenkomst als voordelig voor de EU, vanwege de  goedkope medicijnen die met dit verdrag de EU zullen binnenkomen. Tegenstemmers zagen goedkeuring als een signaal dat Israel boven de wet staat, van de EU niets hoeft te vrezen en beloond wordt voor het schenden van mensenrechten inzake Palestina.

Zie hier meer over de tegen ACAA gevoerde in diverse EU-landen gevoerde petitieactie, die wordt voortgezet bij volgende gelegenheden (participatieprotocol Israel-EU, zie hiervoor). De actie smaakte ook naar meer, ondanks het dit keer niet tegenhouden. 

Het NPK dankte de tegenstemmers.