by Elliott Abrams
Lady Catherine Ashton,
the EU's top foreign policy official, has received a remarkable letter
from the "European Eminent Persons Group on the Middle East Peace
Process." This self-selected collectivity might more accurately be
called the "Formerly Eminent Persons Group," inasmuch as the first word
describing each one of its members is "Former," but I suppose that these
Formerly Eminent Persons do indeed also represent the views of
Currently Eminent European Persons.
The letter is important
in one way: It shows that European official and elite thinking
continues to blame Israel for everything related to the so-called peace
process. To take one example, the letter states that:
"We have watched with
increasing disappointment over the past five years the failure of the
parties to start any kind of productive discussion, and of the
international community under American and/or European leadership to
promote such discussion. We have also noted with frustration and deep
concern the deteriorating standards of humanitarian and human rights
care of the population in the Occupied Territories."
The failure of the
parties? Five years? Five years ago, in the spring of 2008, the parties
were negotiating, apparently seriously, as part of what was then called
"the Annapolis process." That failed when Mahmoud Abbas refused an
extremely generous offer from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The
Formerly Eminent Persons appear to have forgotten this, or, far more
likely, appear to be seeking to avoid that truth. Equally inaccurate is
their line about the "failure of the parties," a phrase that refuses to
acknowledge that only the Palestinians have refused to negotiate in the
last four years, not "the parties."
In any event, the
Formerly Eminent Persons soon arrive at their key insight, which is
"that the Peace Process as conceived in the Oslo Agreements has nothing
more to offer." What does this mean, actually? Turns out, rather
unsurprisingly, that it means we must all get tougher now with Israel.
We must all insist that Israel's borders are the 1967 lines and
everything beyond that is illegal and illegitimate. Everything --
including such things as Israel's control of the Western Wall and the
Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City, from which Israelis were kept
away when Jordan controlled the area. The Formerly Eminent Persons wish
above all to erase the letter to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon from
President George W. Bush in 2004, where he called the major settlement
blocks "new realities on the ground" that all efforts at negotiation had
acknowledged Israel would keep.
There is more in the
letter that is wrong, such as the notion that human rights conditions in
the West Bank are deteriorating due to the Israeli occupation. One can
make a good argument that they are deteriorating in the Gaza Strip due
to Hamas and in the West Bank due to the growing pressure from the
Palestinian Authority against journalists. The letter does not appear to
consider the possibility that any problem in Palestinian areas might
possibly be the fault of Palestinians.
The letter's greatest
sins are those that are quite familiar in letters from Europe, whether
from Formerly Eminent Persons or from Currently Eminent Persons: the sin
of blaming everything on Israel and nothing on the Palestinians,
demanding nothing of the Palestinians, and treating the Palestinians
like objects rather than people. Nowhere does the letter mention the
issue of anti-Semitic broadcasting and hate speech in Palestinian
official media, nor the matter of the glorification of terrorism and
terrorists by the PA, and the impact such conduct has on prospects for
peace.
The letter takes a shot
at U.S. President Barack Obama, saying that all he said and did during
his trip to Israel "gave no indication of action to break the deep
stagnation." Just talk from the Americans, you see; we are all,
including Obama, seen as coddling Israel (and we do not even have
Formerly Eminent Persons writing letters).
This letter is a useful
reminder of European attitudes, at least at the level of the Eminent:
Blame Israel, treat the Palestinians as children, wring your hands over
the terrible way the Americans conduct diplomacy. The Israelis will
treat this letter with the derision it deserves, and the Palestinians
will understand that because this kind of thing reduces European
influence with Israel, the EU just can't deliver much. Indeed it cannot,
and the bias, poor reasoning, and refusal to face facts in this letter
all suggest that this won't be changing any time soon.
Here is the letter and its list of signatories:
THE MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS
Dear High Representative
We, the under-signed
members of the European Eminent Persons Group on the Middle East Peace
Process, are writing to you to express our strong concern about the
dying chances of a settlement based on two separate, sovereign and
peaceful states of Israel and Palestine.
The Eminent Persons
Group is composed of a number of former Presidents, Prime Ministers,
Ministers and senior officials of EU Member States who have decided to
concert their efforts to encourage a lasting settlement of the
Israeli-Palestinian dispute.
We have watched with
increasing disappointment over the past five years the failure of the
parties to start any kind of productive discussion, and of the
international community under American and/or European leadership to
promote such discussion. We have also noted with frustration and deep
concern the deteriorating standards of humanitarian and human rights
care of the population in the Occupied Territories. The security and
long-term stability of Israel, an essential objective in any process,
cannot be assured in such conditions, any more than the legitimate
rights and interests of the Palestinian people.
President Obama made
some of these points during his March 2013 visit to the region,
particularly in his address to the people of Israel, but he gave no
indication of action to break the deep stagnation, nor any sign that he
sought something other than the re-start of talks between West Bank and
Israeli leaders under the Oslo Process, which lost its momentum long
ago.
We are therefore
appealing to you, and through you to the members of the Council of
Ministers, to recognise that the Peace Process as conceived in the Oslo
Agreements has nothing more to offer. Yet the present political
stalemate, while the situation deteriorates on the ground, is
unsustainable, given the disturbed politics of the region and the
bitterness generated by the harsh conditions of life under the
Occupation.
The concern of the
European Union at this deterioration, clearly expressed in a series of
statements, not least the European Council Conclusions of 14 May 2012,
has not been matched by any action likely to improve the situation. The
aspirations of Palestinians and Israelis and the interests of the
European Union, prominently referred to in those Conclusions and in
other relevant EU documents, cannot be met by the current stagnation.
It is time to give a
stark warning that the Occupation is actually being entrenched by the
present Western policy. The Palestinian Authority cannot survive without
leaning on Israeli security assistance and Western funding and, since
the PA offers little hope of progress towards self-determination for the
Palestinian people, it is fast losing respect and support from its
domestic constituency. The steady increase in the extent and population
of Israeli settlements, including in East Jerusalem, and the
entrenchment of Israeli control over the OT in defiance of international
law, indicate a permanent trend towards a complete dislocation of
Palestinian territorial rights.
We have reached the
conclusion that there must be a new approach. Letting the situation lie
unaddressed is highly dangerous when such an explosive issue sits in
such a turbulent environment.
A realistic but active policy, set in the context of current regional events, needs to be composed of the following elements:
-
a sharper focus on the essential need for a two-state solution, as the most likely outcome to offer lasting peace and security for the parties and their neighbourhood and the only one recognised by UN resolutions as just and equitable;
-
an explicit recognition that the current status of the Palestinian Territories is one of occupation, with responsibility for their condition falling under international law on the occupying state;
-
an insistence that Israeli settlements beyond the 1967 lines are illegal, must cease being expanded and will not be recognised as one of the starting points in any new negotiations;
-
a stipulation that any representative political organisation with a valid claim to participate in negotiations must renounce the use of violence outside established UN norms;
-
the renewal of efforts to establish a unified Palestinian representation of both the West Bank and Gaza, without which a comprehensive peace cannot be successfully negotiated and the absence of which serves as an excuse for inaction;
-
the encouragement of reform of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, including representation of all the main Palestinian parties committed to non-violence and reflecting the expressed wishes of the resident Palestinian population in the West Bank and Gaza;
-
a vigorous international drive for the implementation of much improved humanitarian and human rights conditions in both the West Bank and Gaza, monitored by the United Nations, whatever the state of peace negotiations might be at any time;
-
a reconsideration of the funding arrangements for Palestine, in order to avoid the Palestinian Authority's present dependence on sources of funding which serve to freeze rather than promote the peace process;
-
a clear and concerted effort to counter the erasing of the 1967 lines as the basis for a two-state outline. This should include a clear distinction in EU dealings with Israel between what is legitimate – within the 1967 lines – and what violates international law in the Occupied Territories;
-
a clearer willingness within the EU to play a political and not just a funding role and to resume a more strategic dialogue with the Palestinians.
For all the good sense
of EU statements on this issue over the years, the EU's inactivity in
the face of an increasingly dangerous stagnation is both unprincipled
and unwise. European leaders cannot wait for ever for action from the
United States when the evidence accumulates of American failure to
recognise and promote the equal status of Israelis and Palestinians in
the search for a settlement, as accepted in United Nations resolutions.
Later generations will
see it as unforgivable that we Europeans not only allowed the situation
to develop to this point of acute tension, but took no action now to
remedy the continuing destruction of the Palestinian people's right to
self-determination. We regard it as essential for EU interests that the
Council of Ministers and you take rapid action to correct this
unacceptable state of affairs.
We are sending copies of this letter to Members of the Council of Ministers and to the US Secretary of State.
Members of the EEPG send you their respectful greetings.
Signed
Guiliano Amato, Former Prime Minister of Italy
Frans Andriessen, Former Vice-President of the European Commission
Laurens Jan Brinkhorst, Former Vice-Prime Minister of the Netherlands
John Bruton, Former Prime Minister of Ireland
Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Former European Commissioner and Former Foreign Minister of Austria
Teresa Patricio Gouveia, Former Foreign Minister of Portugal
Jeremy Greenstock, Former UK Ambassador to the UN and Co-Chair of the EEPG
Lena Hjelm-Wallén, Former Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden
Wolfgang Ischinger, Former State Secretary of the German Foreign Ministry and Co-Chair of the EEPG
Lionel Jospin, Former Prime Minister of France
Miguel Moratinos, Former Foreign Minister of Spain
Ruprecht Polenz, Former Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the German Bundestag
Pierre Schori, Former Deputy Foreign Minister of Sweden
Javier Solana, Former High Representative and Former NATO Secretary-General
Peter Sutherland, Former EU Commissioner and Director General of the WTO
Andreas van Agt, Former Prime Minister of the Netherlands
Hans van den Broek, Former Netherlands Foreign Minister and Former EU Commissioner for External Relations
Hubert Védrine, Former Foreign Minister of France and Co-Chair of the EEPG
Vaira Vike-Freiberga, Former President of Latvia
From "Pressure Points" by Elliott Abrams. Reprinted with permission from the Council on Foreign Relations.
Elliott Abrams is a senior fellow for Middle East Studies at the Council on
Foreign Relations.
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=4065
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
No comments:
Post a Comment