Posted by Iqbal Tamimi at Palestinian MothersSince the 70’s the Palestinian issue plays a central role inside the debates and the direct relations between EU and the Arab world (Mediterranean area, Arab League etc), as well as indirectly with Africa, through the relations with United States or Russia and China.It is an important issue which worries the International Community. (…)
In order to analyse the ambiguous attitude of the EU and its diplomacy, VP of the EP Luisa Morgantini, who claims for a powerful and balanced role from the UE, answers to the questions of MeAfrique.Does the European Union play fairly with Palestinians?
No, I don't think so. Europe has a double standard in its approach to the Israeli Palestinian conflict and in the research of its just and sustainable solution, since June 1980 in Venice the nine member states of the European Community recognized the PLO and "considered that the traditional ties and common interests which link Europe to the Middle East oblige them to play a special role and now require them to work in a more concrete way towards peace" (Venice declaration June 13, 1980). Europe recognized the necessity of the creation of two States for two people living side by side in peace and security but it was not consequent and coherent in implementing this essential goal and final project.
This was due to many reasons, I just mention some of the main ones: the political system of alliances resulted from the cold war, in which the U.S. imposed their world view together with their military bases and friends-States, such as the State of Israel.
Furthermore, the tragedy of the Holocaust as well as Jews' persecutions in Europe, a very black and unrepeatable page of our history, but also true political mistakes by post colonial Governments (UK), contributed to create a sense of guilty among the European consciousnesses and policies towards Israel: many Israeli Governments have been appealing to these guilty feelings in order to continue, unpunished, with an arbitrary and illegal policy violating the International law with no action taken by the EU or the UN to stop them.
Almost 30 years have been passed since the Venice Declaration -restating the need to implement 242 and 338 UN Security Council resolutions and reinforcing "the right to existence and to security of all the states in the region, including Israel, and justice for all the peoples, which implies the recognition of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people"- however, despite of these words and promises, finally no just solution has yet been found to the Palestinian problem and for the peace in the region.
On the contrary, the Palestinian people live under military occupation since 1967, more than forty years now. The Oslo agreement was never implemented and their freedom of movement denied by hundreds of military check points and by the apartheid wall, considered illegal by the UN Court of Justice: a wall which is defined by Israel as a separation barrier, in order to defend itself from terrorist attacks, but that concretely divide Palestinians from Palestinians, annexing land and water to Israel.
According to a recent report, some 15,000 Israelis moved into settlements in the West Bank since the beginning of 2008, despite a pledge by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to halt settlement construction and the statements following the Annapolis Conference: about 250,000 settlers live today in the West Bank and more than the same amount in East Jerusalem, which against international legality, Israel considers as the occupied part of its capital. The increase of settlement is one of the main issues able to undermine not only all peace negotiations, but also the future of a Palestinian State. Of course Europe is not the only part to bear responsibilities, the entire International Community, the UN, and especially the US had never tried to oblige Israel to implement the UN resolutions. Now, the EU tries to salve its conscience through the implementation of projects on the ground and aid's allocations able to help Palestinians to survive but in the same time not giving political solutions and, worst, replacing Israel in fulfilling the economical responsibilities belonging, according to the international law, to the Occupier towards the occupied population.
The situation is deteriorating tragically with the collective punishment inflicted to the Palestinian population with the siege on Gaza, with the ongoing separation of the occupied territory and the division among the Palestinian leadership. Of course, it is necessary to stop any kind of violence or suicide attacks against the Israeli civilian population but on the same time it's essential to stop the policy of occupation. Palestinians would really need to find in the EU, not only one of the main donor and aid's contributor, but above all a strong, impartial and convinced defender of their rights: unfortunately it does not happen.
Is UE a reliable actor?
For all the reasons I tried to explain before, for all the expectations betrayed in all these years, for the promises not respected due to a 'double standard policy', the EU truly and dramatically risks to be unreliable and untrustworthy, but also to be accomplice and responsible for the ongoing conflict, for decades of Nakbah, injustice, humiliations, violence and dispossession suffered by Palestinians and by the civilian Israeli victims.
We see this political fragility of the European Union each time we are not able -or better we don't want- to make Israel accountable for the violations of the international law, such as the construction of the wall, illegal for the International Court of Justice since many years, the expansion of the illegal settlements, the collective punishment of Gaza civil population through the siege, the reiterated use of admistrative detention and the imprisonment of thousands of Palestinians, including Parliamentarians, children and women and many other illegalities that everyday pass under silence and remain unpunished. At the same time, Israeli governments are blaming the European ones to have an unbalanced approach to the situation.
Anyway, in the European Parliament in these years there has been a real involvement and commitment in order to push the EU to take a more political-oriented role: many members of the EU Parliament went to Palestine and Israel and saw with their own eyes the situation. So, even if through hard work and many difficulties, some important resolutions were voted calling on Israel to fulfil its International obligations, to stop collective punishment as well as to ask to the Palestinian extremists to stop any terrorist action.
Furthermore we asked to the UE to act concretely in order to end the siege in Gaza, to respect the rights of all Palestinian prisoners, firstly children, and to free all the Parliamentarians detained: but of course these resolutions were not enough. The EP has not the needed legislative weight able to impose its opinions to the EU policy for Foreign Affairs, that consequently still remains divided into many different policies belonging to the single Member States. This situation makes the EU incapable to speak with one voice and to play a strong and impartial political role to put an end to the occupation. We are still perceived as a "soft" power, we should learn to use our diplomacy in a more independent way from the US policy, more and more dominant after the falling of the Berlin wall and up to now unfortunately still trying to export democracy through guns and wars. Palestinians need a political solution, their problem cannot be solved by economical or humanitarian aid. We still have more credibility than the US, we should not lose it: in order to be reliable and trustworthy we should simply pursue our fundamental principles, first of all the respect of human rights and justice.
Finally what the EU should do ?
The EU should first ask forgiveness for not having helped to stop the Israeli military occupation and for not having reached the creation of two people and two states, forgiveness to all the victims -Palestinian, Israelis, Lebanese- of this endless tragedy.
There is a need to work for the unity of the Palestinian territories and leadership and strengthen the Palestinian Authority and government. EU should help the dialogue between Fatah and Hamas: it was a big mistake not to recognize the government democratically elected by the Palestinian people, and even more not to recognize the unity government which came out by the effort of the Palestinian prisoners belonging to all the factions, first of all by Marwan Barghouti. We should have helped Hamas to work on a democratic system and to fight the occupation through the non violent resistance.
Negotiations should go on but with immediate outcomes that change the situation on the ground: to freeze settlements, to free prisoners, to open check points, only through all these steps Palestinians can trust the negotiations. Till now Hamas is keeping the truce: an opening dialogue with them will help to stop permanently any kind of attacks against the Israeli civilian population.
The EU should try to use all its power of pressure on Israel: if it will not perform its duties, we should use different means, starting by refusing to cooperate in any military research or selling arms, freezing the EU-Israel Association Agreement, as foreseen in article 2 in case of human rights violations actuated by the third countries. This may help to send a strong message to the Israeli Government that there's no country nor government above the law, the same message that we should send to the U.S.
Furthermore, since the Quartet Special Envoy Tony Blair, as denounced also by several NGOs working on the ground in the Palestinian Occupied Territory, has failed in the aim of improving the living conditions for the Palestinian population, it is necessary to remind to him to take his work seriously and to implement the projects.
The support and the re-launch of the Arab initiative, opening its borders and diplomatic ties to Israel, would provide of course the solution of the Palestinian issue and at same time it would be the best assurance for Israel that its existence is not at risk but it can became a normal state in the middle east, playing an important economical role in the Middle East.
The EU should politically and financially support all Israelis and Palestinians civil society organizations struggling together in a non violent way against the occupation and for rights and dignity for all, like the popular committees in Bi'lin or Ni'lin , but also all the human rights organizations, both Israeli an Palestinians, or organizations like the Combatants for Peace -composed by former Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants who spent many years in jail and now work together for a just peace and to end violence- and the Parent's Circle -Israeli and Palestinian families who lost their beloved either due to the violence of the settlers or the soldiers or to the Palestinian violence. They represent all an example of a culture able to destroy the figure of the enemy and the culture of revenge, a culture where everybody loose.
In the same time there is a need to develop a strong civil society movement in Europe who stands for the end of occupation and the recognition of a Palestinian State alongside the State of Israel, or -whether Israelis and Palestinians one day will prefer- one state for all their citizens.
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