Catherine Ashton and the EU throw the Oslo process under the bus

Under existing agreements between Israel and the PLO, borders is one of the "final status" issues that are meant to be hammered out in negotiations.

Since at least 2009, the PA changed the rules - frustrating US government mediators -  and refused to go back to the negotiating table without Israel agreeing, against UNSC 242, that the 1949 armistice lines should be the basis of the negotiations - arbitrary, indefensible lines that were never considered national borders for any purpose.

Instead of supporting the Israeli position that negotiations should continue without preconditions, the EU has given support to the Palestinian Arab position and strengthened Abbas' intransigence.

Here is the latest example, as the EU's Catherine Ashton announces, in effect, that the negotiating framework that has given autonomy and land to the Palestinian Arabs is dead, and giving the PLO carte blanche to tear up the Oslo Accords:

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Palestinian Premier Salam Fayyad on Tuesday signed in the headquarters of the European diplomatic service, an accord with which the EU will grant 7 million euros in aid for the development of the so-called 'C area' representing roughly 60% of the West Bank. Fayyad is in Brussels to take part in a meeting of the ad hoc committee to coordinate assistance to the Palestinians.

The accord, said Ashton, aims to support the Palestinian presence and promote social and economic development in the C area, which is key to Palestine's economic sustainability.

Ashton also said she was impatient to work constructively with all partners to change the C area.

Relations between the EU and Palestinian National Authority are also being boosted. The EU Council has adopted a common action plan of neighbourhood policy. The plan provides for a shared engagement to deepen bilateral relations and boost the privileged partnership, Ashton said. She also said she had discussed with Fayyad how to better implement shared objectivesi n the plan, and in particular a full association accord between the EU and PNA.

Ashton's statement is here, where she states that the EU is "focusing our efforts on East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and Area C."

Effectively, Abbas' temper tantrum in 2009 has now become EU policy.

Amazing how much you can be rewarded by just saying "no" repeatedly.