Europe faces Israeli wrath

February 17 2002
PV Vivekanand


THE EUROPEANS should be feeling like being hit by a sledgehammer. That is the intensity of the Israeli media attacks on them, apparently triggered by two reasons: First they dared to come up with an initiative to break the Israeli-Palestinian deadlock and then they voiced opposition to the US plan to target Iraq and Iran in the war against terrorism.
Choice words and phrases in the Israeli media include "European foreign policy.... has begun to resemble a schoolyard squabble," "a childish desire to show independence from the United States," "impotence in Bosnia and Kosovo" and "a bizarre coalition of sanctimonious politicians, smarmy intellectuals, graying holdovers from 1968."
The Israeli comments do of course exclude Britain from the summary rejection of the European Union approach to the Israeli-Palestinian problem since Prime Minister Tony Blair and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw have aligned themselves behind US President George W. Bush. If anything, Israel seems to consider the British approach as a counterweight to the EU's quest to involve itself as a key player in the politics of peace-making in the Middle East.
The tone of the comments indicates that the Israelis are worried that the Europeans have finally decided to do way with the constraints imposed on them against assuming an influential political role in the Middle East. The prospect should indeed be worrying for Israel since Europe represents the trade and economic lifeline for the Jewish state, and it is a leverage that the Europeans could use against it if there exists the political will among European leaders and politician.
Apart from that, it is as if Israel has appointed itself as the defender of the US, whose transatlantic relations are being tested as a result of European opposition to Washington's declared plans to expand the war against terrorism.
For that matter, the Europeans do not need any defenders either; but the case in point is a classic example of how they could come under pressure from the only "civilised" country in the region that, however, depends on Europe for the bulk of its economic activities.
It is equally interesting that Israel seems to be telling Europe what it could do and what it could not by pointedly referring to the European Parliament's invitation to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to address the assembly.
It doesn't need an in-depth analysis of the European Union initiative to break the deadlock in the (defunct) peace process or the precise points that Israel has found fit to use to shoot down the initiative. Suffice it is to say that as far as Israel is concerned nothing good could come out of Europe in the political context since the Europeans are sympathetic to the Palestinians.
For decades now, Israel, through using its US card, has prevented the Europeans from having any say in Middle East peacemaking. It is all the more important for Israel to push them back now, given the worsening crisis in Palestine speeded along by Israel's military brutality and one-track mind that is bent upon subduing Palestinian resistance. As such, it is has rejected out of hand the European plan for the declaration of a Palestinian state and Palestinian elections to wipe away the Israeli-created "delegitimisation" of the Palestinian National Authority. The Israeli media have also described the position of France — which formulated the initiative — as "total capitulation to terrorism."
Equally strong is the attack on European opposition to the US plans to target Iraq and Iran.
"European leaders, despite their pretense at unity, have no power or policy of their own but are terminally jealous of America, which has both," says an Israeli commentator with an advise that European statesmen, "rather than preaching to America in order to be different, would do better to cultivate a sense of modesty befitting their own real role in world affairs."
We don't know how European government leaders and politicians are reacting to such attacks, but we do know one thing: Israel is trying to scare the Europeans away from approaching the Middle East with an objective proposal. It also wants to help the US, its "strategic partner," to counter European criticism of what Europe sees as Washington's unilateral approach emerging from the "axis of evil" statement by President Bush.
Beyond that, however, is Israel's desire to eliminate what it considers as a lingering threat from Iraq and the potential of Iran joining a regional conflagration sparked by the growing Arab and Muslim fury and frustration over Israel's immunity against taking whatever action it finds fit to take against the Palestinians.
Of course, it is not the first time that the Europeans have incurred Israel's wrath. At every point wherever Europe has come out with any word or action that casts the slightest question over Israeli deeds and ambitions in the region, it received a kick in the teeth.
But this time around, the situation is different in that the crisis in the Middle East is worsening and courageous initiatives are required to pre-empt the realisation of Israel's objective of eliminating Palestinian resistance. By right and definition, we should have expected the US, the sole superpower, to take the lead and guide all parties involved to a fair and just solution to the problem. Since the US itself appears to have been restrained from doing so by the pro-Israeli lobby in Washington, the next best bet is Europe.
However, our source of concern is whether Europe would indeed be scared into abandoning its moves and withdraw to the sidelines to its previous status as a silent observer and bankroller, ready to step in with cash whenever it is asked to do so.