4 -10 April 2002
Issue No.580
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 4 -10 April 2002 Issue No.580 |
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European alarm
Washington's green light to the Israeli incursions could exacerbate the growing rift between the Bush administration and Europe, report Michael Jansen and Iason Athanasiadis
When US President George Bush blamed the hostilities between Israel and Palestine on President Yasser Arafat, saying that Israel had the right to defend itself, he gave Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon a "green light" to implement his draconian "Operation Protection Wall."
According to the Israeli daily Ha'aretz, Bush granted Israel "freedom of action for several days before renewing cease-fire efforts."
The US's hesitation in condemning Israeli actions has prompted the European Union to step into the diplomatic arena. In recent days, Europe has taken a more prominent role in the Mideast conflict, whether through making diplomatic representations to the Israeli government or through the presence of EU nationals protesting Israeli actions in the occupied territories.
The initial reaction from Europeans, busy observing the Easter weekend holiday, was low-level but picked up towards mid-week when Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Pique summoned Israeli Ambassador Hertzl Inbar and gave him a verbal dressing-down. Pique confirmed the EU's support for the Saudi Arabian peace initiative and stated that Israel must immediately end its incursions into Palestinian territories, withdraw its troops and end Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's confinement. He also warned that the dismantling of the Palestinian Authority may lead to the creation of "collateral problems," in an allusion to the power vacuum that would emerge following the exile -- or worse -- of Arafat. "One thing is to fight terrorism, and another is to dismantle the Palestinian Authority's power structure," he said. Should Israel not comply, Pique said, the EU would be willing to consider other, unspecified measures to end the conflict.
Standing alongside Pique were Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. Solana stated that the EU wants to "recover a peace process" that would result in two independent states -- Israel and Palestine -- each with secure borders. He also said that "We cannot confuse the fight against terror with the destruction of the Palestinian Authority. The solution to the conflict is not military."
The European Union (EU) also called for an "immediate" implementation of UN Security Resolution 1402, which calls for a cease-fire and Israeli withdrawal.
In a separate development, EU diplomats attempting to make contact with besieged Palestinian President Yasser Arafat were told by Sharon that they could see him but on the precondition that Arafat would not return to his Ramallah compound following the visit. Sharon later suggested that European diplomats fly Arafat out of Israel and into exile.
Christina Gallach, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy supremo Javier Solana, rejected Israel's characterisation of Arafat as an "enemy" and said that he remains "our interlocutor and the legitimate authority" in Palestine. "Military means are not going to solve the problem of terrorism," she said.
Following a flurry of diplomatic activity in February -- when top EU officials aired harsh criticisms of Israel and French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine proposed a peace initiative -- the EU role is again gaining in prominence. Belgian foreign minister, Louis Michel, urged the international community to launch a new Middle East peace plan. His proposal that parties involved in the Oslo Peace Accords should meet again for talks are a repetition of a similar suggestion made by Belgium last year when it was president of the European Union.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, who holds the EU presidency, also told Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon to halt the offensive. "The Israeli government will gain nothing by destroying the Palestinian Authority. This [would] aggravate a situation that is already unstable," he said.
French President Jacques Chirac, one of the few heads of state to speak out during the weekend, adopted a similar line.
He told the public that Israel's siege of Arafat in his compound "carries immense dangers... I think it would be a grave error to imagine that the elimination of Yasser Arafat could lead to anything positive. I believe the opposite is the case, and that is the sentiment that all Europeans have clearly expressed."
The French and German foreign ministers, Hubert Vedrine and Joschka Fischer, agreed that "respect for the personal safety of Yasser Arafat is an absolute necessity, as is the normal functioning of the Palestinian Authority." Fischer called upon both sides to comply "immediately" with the UN resolution.
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Israel should proceed "through dialogue," rather than through warfare, to find a political solution.
Britain called upon both sides to change their tactics and return to negotiations. UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw demanded that Sharon pull his troops out of Palestinian enclaves.
In another development, Greek foreign minister Georgos Papandreou completed consultations in Cairo with Secretary-General of the Arab League Amr Moussa, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher and Palestinian Minister of Planning Nabil Shaath. He said that the current crisis "requires a much greater involvement [and] a dynamic initiative from the international community," stressed the necessity for the creation of a viable Palestinian state within secure boundaries and condemned Israel's military assault against Arafat as well as "acts of blind violence and terrorism."
Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh condemned Sharon's attempt to destroy the Palestinian leadership and take revenge on the entire Palestinian people for attacks against Israelis.
The European press was generally critical of Israel. Frankfurter Algemeine Zeitung accused Bush of "blindness" and called upon him to "prevent the fire from spreading across the region." Britain's The Guardian accused Sharon of seeking to destroy the peace initiative adopted by the Arab summit last week, while Italy's La Stampa de Turino said that suicide bombers would not be stopped by eliminating Arafat. "Sharon cannot ignore that repression breeds hate, and hate breeds kamikaze bombers," the paper wrote.
Demonstrations protesting the Israeli campaign have been held in at least 20 European cities.
It seems that the longer the Israeli operation goes on, the greater becomes the media and popular pressure on European leaders to act.
Europeans are increasingly likely to see Bush's refusal to press Sharon as yet another aspect of his "unilateralist" approach to foreign affairs. According to David Ignatius, writing in the International Herald Tribune from Paris in mid-February, the Europeans are fed up with Bush's "anti-terrorism policy" and refuse to be "treated like 'satellite states'." In Ignatius' view, "What is driving a wedge between the United States and Europe... [is] a growing divergence of interests and capabilities."
As far as the Middle East is concerned, the divergence of interests is based on geography and history. The region is Europe's backyard. What happens here has a major impact on Europe.
Instability affects Europe's trade with the area and if neighbouring countries are drawn into the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Europe stands to receive floods of refugees and economic migrants.
Washington has a far greater capability to influence Israel because Bush's voice on the matter is more definitive from a domestic point of view. He can count on the support of a pro-Israel congress and the indifference of ordinary citizens. While Europe is not prepared to back Sharon in his latest military campaign against Arafat, so far its leaders are not prepared to intervene decisively by exerting pressure on Israel to halt its offensive. Europe could do this by simply suspending Israel's preferential commercial agreements with the EU, which is the main trading partner of the Jewish state.
Europe is, however, unlikely to do this. It still does not speak with one united voice, particularly with regard to Israel. Germany is reluctant to take a tough line because of sensitivities dating back to its persecution of the Jews during the Nazi period. Holland, which protected its Jews, rarely criticises Israel. Britain does not want to break ranks with its ally, the US.
The difference in the way Americans and Europeans perceive the current crisis, combined with a very different historical relationship to Israel, make a third element of divergence between Europe and the US.
Europeans, who have a more recent memory of warfare, are far more sensitive than US citizens to televised coverage of Israeli tanks blundering into population centres and soldiers rounding up men with hands raised. It is no coincidence that the majority of peace activists now risking their own lives by serving as "human shields" to protect Arafat are Europeans.
Several hundreds of these activists are holed up in Ramallah and the occupied territories, acting as impromptu international monitors. The activists, organised in their majority by the International Solidarity Movement to Free Palestine, entered several Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank in protest of Israeli practices. Five were injured on Monday when they confronted Israeli tanks in the West Bank and were shot at by occupation troops. None were seriously injured although one British woman received a live bullet in her abdomen.
Elsewhere, three French pacifists were arrested along with anti- globalisation militant José Bové in the West Bank town of Ramallah, after visiting Yasser Arafat, and deported from Israel. The three arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport from Tel Aviv, their faces drawn with fatigue, to be welcomed by dozens of sympathisers. According to Bové, "We saw hundreds of men sitting on the ground, under canvas and behind barbed wire, surveyed by watchtowers. We saw 300 people kneeling down and blindfolded, waiting to be interrogated in the cold and the night. It was unbearable to behold."
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