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Mideast Experts Blast European Criticism of Israel
(Jerusalem Post) Benjamin Weinthal - Responding to the call by the European Eminent Persons Group on Middle East issues (EEPG), which urged the EU to take unilateral actions against Israel for the stagnant peace process, Prof. Gerald M. Steinberg, president of NGO Monitor, told the Jerusalem Post on Friday, "Far from being a peace proposal, this is a re-statement of standard European mythology, which is based entirely on and reinforces the Palestinian narrative....This approach patronizes Palestinians, treating them like children incapable of moral behavior or of taking responsibility for their actions, while legitimate Israeli security concerns are erased." Asaf Romirowsky, executive director of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, noted, "The belief that Hamas is a legitimate partner for peace and would change its mandate and commitment to the destruction of the Jewish state glosses over any real understanding of the Islamist narrative." He said the approach of the group "presumes that there is a real, meaningful desire for peace on the Palestinian side," ignoring "the fragmentation between Gaza and the West Bank, and above all the refusal of the PA to engage in direct negotiations with Israel."