Legal expert challenges EU envoy to debate on Judea and Samaria
Northwestern international law professor calls on EU’s ambassador to Israel to publicly debate legal status of Israel.
First Publish: 4/3/2016, 9:55 PM
Lars Faaborg-Andersen
Photo: Yoni Kempinski
The EU Ambassador to Israel, Lars Faaborg-Andersen, participated last week in the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper's anti-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) conference where he reiterated the EU's stance that Israeli “settlements” are “illegal under international law” and are “a hindrance to the peace process.”
Faaborg-Andersen additionally termed the 1949 armistice line an "internationally recognized border” even though the 1949 line is neither internationally recognized, nor is it a border.
Legal Grounds, a grassroots initiative established to inform about and promote Israel’s legal land rights, called on the Ambassador to publicly debate Professor Eugene Kontorovich, a renowned expert on international law at Northwestern University and senior legal think tank fellow in Israel.
Legal Grounds claim the EU's stance contravenes the officially recognized rightful presence of the State of Israel in Judea and Samaria according to international law: “These rights were recognized unequivocally by the League of Nations, and reaffirmed in Chapter 80 of the UN Charter. Moreover, the EU stance runs contrary to its previous commitment implicit in its having witnessed and signed Oslo II, an agreement based on stipulations by UN resolutions 242 and 338 that Israel is entitled to ‘secure and recognized’ borders.”
Legal Grounds believe that Faaborg-Andersen should be held accountable for his inaccurate statement regarding legal facts.
"For years, EU representatives have repeatedly expressed an inaccurate, one-sided viewpoint on the legality of Israeli control and building in Judea and Samaria. Their tendentious claims are now being advanced by Ambassador Faaborg-Andersen without relating to the actual legalities, or to changing circumstances on the ground,” said Legal Grounds co-chair and ZOA Israel director Jeff Daube.
“In light of the Ambassador's consequential statements, it is appropriate to request that he debate with a leading international scholar of Kontorovich's caliber and use the public forum to test EU assumptions spoken of as truth in order to constrain Israel. We look forward to a positive response from Faaborg-Anderson to our invitation.”
Faaborg-Andersen additionally termed the 1949 armistice line an "internationally recognized border” even though the 1949 line is neither internationally recognized, nor is it a border.
Legal Grounds, a grassroots initiative established to inform about and promote Israel’s legal land rights, called on the Ambassador to publicly debate Professor Eugene Kontorovich, a renowned expert on international law at Northwestern University and senior legal think tank fellow in Israel.
Legal Grounds claim the EU's stance contravenes the officially recognized rightful presence of the State of Israel in Judea and Samaria according to international law: “These rights were recognized unequivocally by the League of Nations, and reaffirmed in Chapter 80 of the UN Charter. Moreover, the EU stance runs contrary to its previous commitment implicit in its having witnessed and signed Oslo II, an agreement based on stipulations by UN resolutions 242 and 338 that Israel is entitled to ‘secure and recognized’ borders.”
Legal Grounds believe that Faaborg-Andersen should be held accountable for his inaccurate statement regarding legal facts.
"For years, EU representatives have repeatedly expressed an inaccurate, one-sided viewpoint on the legality of Israeli control and building in Judea and Samaria. Their tendentious claims are now being advanced by Ambassador Faaborg-Andersen without relating to the actual legalities, or to changing circumstances on the ground,” said Legal Grounds co-chair and ZOA Israel director Jeff Daube.
“In light of the Ambassador's consequential statements, it is appropriate to request that he debate with a leading international scholar of Kontorovich's caliber and use the public forum to test EU assumptions spoken of as truth in order to constrain Israel. We look forward to a positive response from Faaborg-Anderson to our invitation.”
Inga kommentarer:
Skicka en kommentar