Berlusconi and Palestine
At the start of his tenure as EU President Berlusconi has pledged to expand Europe's role in the Middle East peace process. Mohamed Sid-Ahmed comments
Italy assumed the rotary leadership of the European Union last month, at a time the Middle East situation is continuing to deteriorate, both on the Iraqi front, where the political vacuum following Saddam's removal has plunged the country into chaos, and on the Israeli-Palestinian front, where the negotiation process that has been revived after a long hiatus appears to be going nowhere. Italy's current prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, is a media tycoon and the richest man in the country, a maverick whose behaviour is often difficult to predict and whose ambitions are the subject of intense speculation. Are they purely personal, nationalistic or pan- European in nature? What exactly is he after -- personal glory? Italy's welfare? The realisation of a pan- European dream and the promotion of Europe's role on the world stage? And where does the Middle East fit into his scheme of things?
A few days ago, Berlusconi miraculously overcame a crisis which threatened to scuttle his coalition government. The public prosecutor's office had been looking into suspected tax fraud and false bookkeeping by one of the media companies he owns, involving the purchase of TV rights for films produced in the mid-1990s. The justice minister, a member of the League of the North, sought to block the prosecutor's inquiry by invoking a new immunity law which protects the prime minister and other top officials from prosecution. This infuriated another government partner, the Christian Democratic Union, which threatened to quit the coalition. The crisis was finally overcome thanks to an interpretation of the new immunity law which found that it blocked trials but not investigations. This was not Berlusconi's first brush with the law, and throughout the last decade he has faced several legal problems. Crises situations also erupted because of the continuous bickering inside Berlusconi's coalition government, especially between the League of the North on the one hand and the National Alliance and other centre-right parties on the other, with Berlusconi personally often closer to the former.
Among the issues that have angered many Arab parties, including Egypt, was Berlusconi's compliance with Sharon's demand that he boycott Arafat and refuse to meet with him at a time he was getting ready to assume the European presidency. This was interpreted as submitting to Sharon's conditions on how to deal with the Palestinians and signalling to the EU states to act in a similar manner.
It is an interpretation contested by people in the know, who point out that Berlusconi has always strongly defended the Palestinian cause, on the grounds that there can be no stability in the Middle East, nor, for that matter, in the Euro-Mediterranean region in general, unless the Palestinian problem is resolved. They raise a logical argument in defence of their case, namely, that given Italy's geographical and historical setting, it simply cannot afford to adopt an anti-Arab stand. From the geographic point of view, it is the closest of the large European countries to the Arab world, while historically its ties to the region go back to antiquity. Moreover, they point out, since entering public life Berlusconi, who has always been very close to the leader of the Italian Socialist Party, Bettino Craxi, one of Arafat's closest European allies, has himself built up a personal relationship with the Palestinian president.
Still, Italy's policies towards the Arab world are not above reproach. The Italian public is very sensitive to anything that smacks of anti-Semitism or which can in any way be interpreted as touching on the Jews. No such sensitivity is apparent when it comes to the Arabs. However close Berlusconi's personal relations with Arafat may be, whatever help he may extend to him in secret, what counts is what he does openly. Whatever his intentions, it is his public attitude towards Arafat that is of symbolic significance. Boycotting Arafat is an act performed in the open, which is bound to affect both Arabs and Jews, each from their own viewpoint. It signals that Italy, independently from the rest of the European Union, is bowing to America on an issue concerning Palestinian internal affairs. Everybody knows that Abu Mazen, the Palestinian interlocutor with whom Bush accepts to deal, does not boycott Arafat, and that he discusses every topic of any importance with the Palestinian president. The assumption of dissension between the two men serves the interests of the US administration in that it allows it to sponsor Palestinian-Israeli negotiations without having to deal with Arafat.
Concomitantly with the attempt to separate the Palestinian problem from the person of Arafat, we are now seeing an attempt to link Israel organically to Europe, with voices being raised in favour of admitting Israel into the European Union. While this might not be the official policy of the Italian government, it has not come out openly against the proposal. Advocates of Israeli membership in the EU claim that their aim is not to favour Israel at the expence of the Arabs but rather, to curb its excesses by subjecting it to the norms and values of the European Union. Making Israel accountable to an institutional set-up would, they maintain, serve the cause of peace. From an Arab perspective, such a move would confirm what they see as a strong Western bias to Israel, and, far from serving the cause of peace, would only encourage Israel's belligerency.
As far as Israel is concerned, the advantages of joining the EU are outweighed by the disadvantages of submitting its will to a collective system of checks and balances that would curtail its freedom of manouevre. There is no doubt that Israel (particularly the section of Israeli public opinion that supports Sharon) opposes the idea of joining Europe. And there are no signs that the European Union sympathises with the idea. But attitudes can change, and the fact that the idea is up for discussion presents the Arabs with a new challenge.
The whole idea proceeds from the assumption that Israel is beset by a hostile Arab environment and that its inclusion in Europe would provide it with a shield against the threat to its survival posed by its Arab neighbours and assuage Israeli apprehensions. But apprehensions -- if they do exist -- are more psychological than real. After all, Israel continues to enjoy tremendous military, technological and scientific superiority over all the Arab countries combined. Its inclusion in the European Union will enhance its superiority and tilt the balance of power even more sharply to its advantage. Thus what is presented as giving the Arabs a guarantee against Israel's superiority is in fact giving Israel still more power, thereby feeding Arab feelings of frustration and impotence. While not officially endorsing Israeli membership in the EU, Berlusconi supports the idea that the EU should open up more on nations such as Turkey and Russia. He is very sensitive to the logic of countries which feel they are under siege. With the present uproar over the issue of terrorism, he sees Italy as besieged by growing numbers of immigrants invading Italy from the southern shores of the Mediterranean. Like Russia, which used to suffer from a feeling of isolation throughout the Communist era, Israel also suffers from a siege mentality because of its Zionist ideology.
One of Berlusconi's most significant statements was the one in which he identified the key issue in the Middle East as the Palestinian problem. Now that he heads the European Union he should reaffirm his commitment to finding a solution to the problem, while standing firmly against the view propounded by America that Iraq is the key issue. Today all parties, including the Bush administration, condemn Sharon's decision to construct a security wall aimed at isolating most of the territory that will come under Palestinian self-rule. Given that the roadmap negotiations will only address the issue of final borders in the final phase, the security wall (which covers an area smaller than that envisaged in Phase I of the roadmap) could become the final borders of the Palestinian state, placing the world before a fait accompli and aborting the Palestinian question.
Berlusconi believes Europe has not played any significant role in the solution of the Palestinian problem in recent years and has announced that he plans to remedy the situation during his six-month presidency by holding a summit meeting next year in Sicily devoted to the Arab-Israeli conflict and by reactivating the Quartet. Bush's failure to dissuade Sharon from pushing ahead with the security wall or to soften his position on Palestinian prisoners, Israeli settlements in Gaza and the West Bank and other contentious issues threatens to derail the roadmap. Could Berlusconi use his privileged status with the US president on the Iraqi issue to encourage Bush to take a firmer stand on the issue of the security wall? This will be a real test of Berlusconi's ability to deliver on his pledge.
