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Obsessed with Israeli Settlements, Americans and Europeans Turn a Blind Eye to Palestinian Violence
(JNS) Dore Gold interviewed by Israel Kasnett - The U.S and some European nations continue to demonstrate an obsession with Israeli "settlements" and isolated incidents by small groups of radical Israelis, mostly wayward youths, while completely ignoring the much larger issue of Palestinian violence, incitement and terrorism. This obsession was clear during a routine meeting several weeks ago at Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs between diplomats from 16 European countries and Aliza Bin Noun, the director of the European Affairs Department. Dore Gold, president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, believes that "the obsession isn't with settlements; it's with Israel." Gold explained that the legal basis of European objections to settlement activity is the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention, which forbids an occupying power from evicting the existing population or forcibly transferring its own population into the occupied territory. "The two dimensions of the convention do not apply to Israel," Gold said, "yet the international community misinterprets international law and accuses Israel of violating the convention" while ignoring actual violations in other countries. When Turkey occupied northern Cyprus, there was a massive sale of properties there to Europeans who wanted a cheap vacation home. The UN Human Rights Council ignored it. The one case "that really boils my blood" is what has been going on in the last decade in Syria. Pro-Iranian Shi'ite militias there have evicted thousands of Syrian Sunnis in order to change the demographic balance. Families have come from Afghanistan and Pakistan to settle in the vacated homes. In Israel's case, there has not been any forced eviction of Palestinians in Judea and Samaria. Yet the international community focuses on Israel and ignores Syria. "That is what I would call international legal hypocrisy. This is a glaring case of misapplying international law." Gold pointed to Khan al-Ahmar, a Bedouin outpost situated on the main highway connecting Jerusalem to the Jordan Valley, and recognized as illegal by Israel's Supreme Court as a potential security risk. When he was director-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Gold met with German officials and "made a very strong point" that if Khan al-Ahmar is allowed to remain, hundreds of Israeli families that travel on that road will be at risk. Gold told the German ministry officials that if Israeli families are killed on this road after Germany insisted that Palestinian construction in "Area C" is legal, they share responsibility in what happens. Foreign obsession with Israel and the settlements is not going away, "but it is imperative that Israel get its truth out," said Gold. "The Fourth Geneva Convention does not apply. Israel is in the right here."