Draft EU summit conclusions undergo changes by nature. Some are more significant than others.
The version dated 16 June has removed a line on the Gaza and West Bank, suggesting Germany still won’t budge on trade bans against Israeli settlers, let alone on Israel more broadly.
Although later tweaked and reintroduced, the back and forth pointed to internal political battles on how to deal with Israel.
A previous iteration of a draft dated 8 June demanded that EU states “discuss appropriate measures” in light of the deteriorating situation on the ground.
Those words were axed even as one in six Israeli shipments to the UK and EU contained agricultural goods sourced from illegal settlements in occupied Palestine and the Syrian Golan Heights, according to findings by Global Echo, a non-profit.
