EU HOLDS LINE ON PALARAB STATE RECOGNITION…BUT THE SAME OLD NARRATIVE PREVAILS
http://www.robinshepherdonline.com/eu-holds-line-against-palestiniain-unilateralism-but-same-old-pro-palestinian-narrative-prevails/#more-3542
EU holds line against Palestinian unilateralism but same old pro-Palestinian narrative prevails
Yesterday’s joint statement on the Middle East peace process from the 27 foreign ministers of the European Union can at least be applauded for one thing: it rejects the ever growing calls from the Palestinian side to support a unilateral declaration of independence on 1967 lines and then seek recognition through the United Nations. Of course, the EU does not put it quite that explicitly. But calls “for all parties to refrain from provocative unilateral actions” and affirmations of the EU’s “readiness to contribute to a negotiated solution” clearly show that it this stage at least the EU is not yet ready to break with the United States on such a sensitive issue in international diplomacy.
That gives no cause for complacency. The pressures in Europe are clearly growing against Israel as evidenced most recently (see previous entry) by a letter from 26 former luminaries of the European Union and its member states calling for the EU to impose sanctions against Israel over settlement building. But the Palestinians are going nowhere with a unilateral declaration without European support. So the fact that it is still being withheld shows that there is everything to fight for and that there is nothing inevitable about the Palestinians ultimately succeeding in their aims.
The foreign ministers also call for the release of Gilad Shalit and pepper their remarks with (pro-forma?) references to Israel’s security and legitimacy. That said, the EU statement was just the same old dreary white-washing of Palestinian rejectionism that we have become used to over decades, and they need to be called on it. To wit:
** The word “Hamas” does not appear once in the statement.
** The word “terrorism” does not appear once in the statement.
** While referring to the need for a “comprehensive” peace in the Middle East, the word “Iran” does not appear once in the statement.
** The number of references to Palestinian rejectionism at both the popular and the institutional level is zero.
** References to Palestinian Authority incitement, including the glorification of suicide bombers by naming streets and squares after them, are also entirely absent.
** There is no criticism whatsoever of the Palestinian Authority, while Israel is routinely criticised over settlements (the only issue specifically referred to as an “obstacle to peace”) and for not moving quickly or decisively enough to ease the situation over Gaza.
** The statement calls for “an agreed, just, fair and realistic solution to the refugee question” in a manner which indicates that the signatories believe the only refugee question is the Palestinian one showing they are oblivious to the one million Jewish refugees driven out of Arab countries after the inception of the State of Israel.
So, even as we breathe a sigh of relief that sanity for now prevails over Palestinian unilateralism, the extent to which the European political establishment has internalised the Palestinian narrative over the conflict remains there for all to see. And with Catherine Ashton (former treasurer to the pro-Soviet Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) at the helm of EU foreign policy making, a volte face on unilateralism at some point next year could only be ruled out by the irretrievably naive. Watch this space…
Yesterday’s joint statement on the Middle East peace process from the 27 foreign ministers of the European Union can at least be applauded for one thing: it rejects the ever growing calls from the Palestinian side to support a unilateral declaration of independence on 1967 lines and then seek recognition through the United Nations. Of course, the EU does not put it quite that explicitly. But calls “for all parties to refrain from provocative unilateral actions” and affirmations of the EU’s “readiness to contribute to a negotiated solution” clearly show that it this stage at least the EU is not yet ready to break with the United States on such a sensitive issue in international diplomacy.
That gives no cause for complacency. The pressures in Europe are clearly growing against Israel as evidenced most recently (see previous entry) by a letter from 26 former luminaries of the European Union and its member states calling for the EU to impose sanctions against Israel over settlement building. But the Palestinians are going nowhere with a unilateral declaration without European support. So the fact that it is still being withheld shows that there is everything to fight for and that there is nothing inevitable about the Palestinians ultimately succeeding in their aims.
The foreign ministers also call for the release of Gilad Shalit and pepper their remarks with (pro-forma?) references to Israel’s security and legitimacy. That said, the EU statement was just the same old dreary white-washing of Palestinian rejectionism that we have become used to over decades, and they need to be called on it. To wit:
** The word “Hamas” does not appear once in the statement.
** The word “terrorism” does not appear once in the statement.
** While referring to the need for a “comprehensive” peace in the Middle East, the word “Iran” does not appear once in the statement.
** The number of references to Palestinian rejectionism at both the popular and the institutional level is zero.
** References to Palestinian Authority incitement, including the glorification of suicide bombers by naming streets and squares after them, are also entirely absent.
** There is no criticism whatsoever of the Palestinian Authority, while Israel is routinely criticised over settlements (the only issue specifically referred to as an “obstacle to peace”) and for not moving quickly or decisively enough to ease the situation over Gaza.
** The statement calls for “an agreed, just, fair and realistic solution to the refugee question” in a manner which indicates that the signatories believe the only refugee question is the Palestinian one showing they are oblivious to the one million Jewish refugees driven out of Arab countries after the inception of the State of Israel.
So, even as we breathe a sigh of relief that sanity for now prevails over Palestinian unilateralism, the extent to which the European political establishment has internalised the Palestinian narrative over the conflict remains there for all to see. And with Catherine Ashton (former treasurer to the pro-Soviet Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) at the helm of EU foreign policy making, a volte face on unilateralism at some point next year could only be ruled out by the irretrievably naive. Watch this space…
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