Israel: Settlement policy wrong say European Jews

Prominent Jewish intellectuals living in Europe have begun denouncing the Israeli policy of allowing settlements to come up on Palestinian territories as "morally and politically wrong.'' In a collective declaration, presented in the Belgian capital Brussels on May 3, hundreds of prominent European Jews also said that the main danger to the state of Israel ''lies in the occupation and the continuing pursuit of settlements in the West Bank and in the Arab districts of East Jerusalem." The intellectuals, including some who had expressed staunch loyalty to Israeli authorities in the past, warn that Israel currently faces an ''unacceptable de-legitimization process.'' Among the 500-odd initial signatories of the declaration are the former Israeli ambassador in Berlin, Avi Primor, and French intellectuals Alain Finkielkraut and Bernard Henri Levy - so far known as uncompromising critics of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and tenacious defenders of Israeli policies.