Europe is different, as we are often reminded. It is unlike the United States, which gives its unconditional support to Israel. European countries tend to be more balanced in their approach to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Their politicians are less likely to being bought and sold by pro-Israel lobbies. Their media are far more inclusive in their coverage — unlike the staunchly one-sided US mainstream media that, at times, are far more pro-Israel than Israeli media themselves.

While one must concede that no single country’s foreign policy is an exact copy of another, there is little evidence that sets the European Union apart for evenhandedness and political sensibility. Unlike the United States, however, European bias is far more inconspicuous, and purposely so.

No other issue highlights European inconsistency, hypocrisy and self-defeating policies as that of its stance vis-à-vis the illegal Jewish settlements in occupied East Jerusalem and West Bank. All the firm statements about the EU’s commitment to international law when it comes to the illegality of the settlements, all the warnings that the ever-encroaching colonial structures impede any chances — if any exists — of a two-state solution are no more than declared policies that stand in almost complete contradiction to the reality on the ground.

Not only does the EU do little to show real resolve to discourage the growth of the settlements — which now occupy nearly 42 per cent of the total size of the West Bank and East Jerusalem and most of their natural resources — it, in brazenly direct ways, actually funds the growth of these very settlements. The oddity is that the EU does so while continuing to be a major funder of the Palestinian Authority and a tireless advocate of the two-state solution.

How can the EU advocate the very “solution” in whose demise it is effectively involved? Is it mere hypocrisy — discrepancy between rhetoric and action — or is the EU’s attitude part of a decided foreign policy agenda that is much greater than the political will of individual countries? Facts and numbers unmistakably demonstrate EU complicity, complacency and direct investment in the Israeli colonial project. In a new report titled: “Trading Away Peace: How Europe helps sustain illegal Israeli settlements,” 22 NGOs expose a most revealing European duplicity. The NGOs included major organisations, such as Christian Aid and the International Federation for Human Rights.

“The most recent estimate of the value of EU imports from settlements provided by the Israeli government to the World Bank is $300 million [230 million euros] a year; this is approximately 15 times the annual value of EU imports from Palestinians,” the report showed.

“With more than four million Palestinians and over 500,000 Israeli settlers living in the occupied territory, this means the EU imports over 100 times more per settler than per Palestinian.”

Europe is Israel’s largest trade partner, followed by the United States. Without such major trade routes, the Israeli economy would likely suffer the consequences of the Israeli government policies. Moreover, the amount cited above is likely much larger since many of the Israeli products originating in the occupied territories are marketed under the “Made in Israel” label, simply because many settlements-based companies have branches in Israel.

A case in point is SodaStream, which produces an at-home carbonation device. The vast majority (over 70 per cent) of its products are sold in European countries, despite the fact that the manufacturing of the product takes place in Maale Adumim, a Jewish settlement built illegally on Palestinian land in East Jerusalem and in a constant state of expansion.

Companies based in illegal settlements receive generous tax breaks and other incentives, like using “Jewish-only” roads, which, obviously, Palestinians are not allowed to use although the roads are constructed on their land.

“Because the company also maintains a factory in Israel,” wrote Eline Gordts in the Huffington Post, it can sell its products under the label “Made in Israel”. Such strategy can be successful in avoiding the formality of branding products made in Jewish settlements as such, which is applied by two European countries.

The EU has little quarrel with being a major market that keeps the settlements prosperous and economically competitive. It is, in fact, doing its utmost to integrate the Israeli economy into the larger European market. The latest such effort took place on October 23, when the European Parliament ratified the EU-Israel Agreement on Conformity Assessment and Acceptance (ACAA). The ratification is hardly an isolated gesture; it is part of ceaseless efforts that go back to the 1995 Association Agreement, which allegedly meant to reward Israel for its peacemaking efforts and help it break away from its regional isolation.

Despite Israel’s incessant efforts to colonise much of the West Bank, its continued “legal” and physical isolation of occupied East Jerusalem, and its protracted siege on Gaza, the EU has done little to express any objection to Israel’s violation of international law.

“It is worth remembering,” wrote Emanuele Scimia in Asia Times, “that on July 24 the European Council, the EU’s decision-making body, already agreed to upgrade trade and diplomatic relations with Israel in more than 60 sectors.”

Rife with contradictions, European countries continue to act using the same odd logic of supporting settlements and criticising them at the same time. Three European powers — Germany, Britain and France — joined forces in Berlin on November 6, criticising Israel over its recent decision to permit the construction of over 1,200 units in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

“Our clear expectation of all sides in the Middle East is that they refrain from anything that will make the resumption of negotiations more difficult,” German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said.

He called Israel’s settlement policy “a hindrance to the peace process”. In fact, this is the tip of the iceberg because, according to the NGOs report, “over the past two years, settlement expansion has accelerated with more than 16,000 new housing units announced or approved”.

That policy is likely to continue unabated since the right-wing government of Benjamin Netanyahu made it clear that settlement construction is the cornerstone of its policies.

The growth of the settlements is accompanied by a parallel destruction of “Palestinian structures — including those funded by European donor support”. The EU is neither actively defending its declared policies regarding settlements nor taking any meaningful legal action against the systematic Israeli destruction of EU-funded projects in the occupied territories. Even worse, according to the report, “some European-owned companies have invested in settlements and related infrastructure or are providing services to them. Cases that have been reported include G4S (UK/Denmark), Alstom (France), Veolia (France), and Heidelberg Cement (Germany)”.

European policies may seem irrational on the surface — as in, for example, Germany criticising Israeli settlements, yet permitting Heidelberg Cement to profit from the occupation.

But political absurdity is not exactly a trait of European politics, nor could such contradictions have lasted for so long had political incongruity not been itself the very policy that the EU wishes to pursue.

Indeed, the EU foreign policy regarding Palestine/Israel is different from that of the United States; while the latter is openly one-sided and “unconditionally” so, the former is deviously complicit in ensuring the very occupation that it is supposedly trying to end.