Yesha’s Dagan gets cold shoulder from EU foreign policy chief Borrell

EU Foreign Policy chief Josep Borrell refused a request to meet a delegation headed by Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan, which would also have included Palestinian Sheikh Nasr Abu Khalil Al-Tamimi, who is opposed to a two-state solution.

The story about the refusal was published Monday by Dagan’s office.

Borrell has been a leading voice in the EU against Israeli plans to annex portions of the West Bank, including within the framework of a US peace plan, because he fears it would harm any possibility of reaching a two-state solution at the pre-1967 lines.

Dagan supports an Israeli sovereignty plan, but opposes the Trump plan, because it allows for the creation of a Palestinian state on 70% of the West Bank.

When asked about how such a meeting could occur during the COVID-19 pandemic, Samaria Regional Council spokeswoman Esther Allush said that Dagan had long sought a meeting with the EU foreign policy chief, including before the coronavirus outbreak, but that such a conversation if held now could have easily occurred on Zoom.

“This event underscores the height of European Union hypocrisy,” Dagan said. “The European Union is willing to convene and make decisions with regard to Judea and Samaria, but has refused to meet with representatives of the residents living there, who would be the first ones influenced by those decisions,” Dagan said.

Borrell’s refusal, he said, was “lasting proof that the EU was painted in just one color and its opinions are formulated without hearing from both parties. I expect Borrell to change his decision and agree to meet, even on Zoom due to corona, so he can hear from Arabs in Judea and Samaria and the settlers, both of whom are willing to live side by side without the EU’s intervention.”

The consultancy group Golden Gate attempted to arrange the meeting with the help of its director of Public Affairs, Jenny Aharon.

Dagan has for years invested in building bridges with the EU and helped form a caucus group in the European Parliament called Friends of Judea and Samaria in the European Parliament.

Two years ago, he held a meeting in the Parliament building between pro-Israeli legislators, settlers and Palestinians. At the time, he sought but failed to receive an audience with former EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.