EU ambassador to Israel says Jerusalem should have frozen settlements, or agreed to the 1967 lines, rather than freeing murdering terrorists.

By Israel Today Staff

European Union Ambassador to Israel Lars Faaborg-Andersen made the surprising assertion that Israel had been wrong to agree to the release of jailed Palestinian terrorists as a condition for current US-brokered peace talks.

Lars Faaborg-Andersen – Photo: EU courtesy

Speaking to the Times of Israel, Faaborg-Andersen said that “had the EU been asked to advise Israel,” it would have told Jerusalem to accept a full settlement freeze and negotiate on the basis of the pre–1967 armistice lines.

“You didn’t do that,” the ambassador continued. “That’s your own sovereign choice. You also have to deal with the consequences.”

Instead, Israel agreed to the release of over 100 terrorists with “blood on their hands” – men who have directly participated in the murder of Israeli men, women and children – in four phases, the last of which is scheduled to be implemented later this month.

“The fact that these pre-Oslo prisoners are being released and coming back and being treated as heroes, is at the outset facilitated by you, because you are releasing them,” he sniped.

Of course, there is one serious hole in Faaborg-Andersen’s reasoning. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has repeated stated that one of his primary goals is to secure the release of every Palestinian prisoner, regardless of his or her crime. Abbas has made clear that he will accept no peace agreement that does not include the freeing of jailed Palestinian. So, one way or another, Israel was going to be pressured to make this concession.

View original Israel Today publication at: http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/24501/Default.aspx?hp=article_title