EU Popular Opposition to Israel Stronger Than Ever
Tuesday, 09 September 2014 11:00 By Bruno Jäntti, Truthout | Op-Ed
The dispossession of the Palestinian people has been and remains an internationalized endeavor. With the European Union as its largest trading partner and the United States as its largest backer militarily and politically, Israel has no reason to reconsider its denial of Palestinian self-determination.
Albeit both the EU and the United States have been and remain Israel's global patrons, the prospects for change toward Israel appear quite different in the EU than they do in the United States. Compared to the EU, the United States lags behind in terms of the level of knowledge of, and intensity of opposition to, Israel's conduct.
EU's Budding Reservations
The way the over half a billion EU citizens view Israel in general and its policies toward the Palestinians in particular is undergoing a historic transformation.
Already in 2003, when Israel had been attempting for more than three years to subdue the Second Intifada by carrying out repressive withering military operations in the occupied West Bank, a survey was conducted in the EU on which countries were perceived as threats to world peace. The European Commission poll spoke volumes: Sixty percent of the EU citizenry regarded Israel as the greatest threat to world peace.
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/26074-eu-popular-opposition-to-israel-stronger-than-ever
