| Author (Person) | Cronin, David |
|---|---|
| Series Title | European Voice |
| Series Details | Vol.10, No.28, 29.7.04 |
| Publication Date | 29/07/2004 |
| Content Type | News |
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By David Cronin Date: 29/07/04 THE wall that Israel is building in the West Bank has provided the biggest test for EU foreign policy since ten new countries joined the Union on 1 May. Israeli diplomats had wished that the bloc would split ahead of the 21 July vote at the UN's General Assembly on an Arab-sponsored motion demanding that the 640-km barrier be dismantled. Their hopes were pinned to a large extent on newcomers such as Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, which have been perceived as more pro-Israel (partly because of US pressure) than many western European countries. As with the recent ruling from the International Court of Justice declaring that the wall violated international law, the UN vote was not legally binding. Yet it has increased tensions between Israel and the EU, with Israeli officials opining that the Union can no longer consider itself an honest broker in the Middle East. Ahead of the vote, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon also picked a fight with Paris by calling on the country's Jews to emigrate to Israel, alleging they face the "wildest anti-Semitism" in France. Javier Solana, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs, defended the Union's position when he visited the region last week. After Sharon said that the EU would have little prospect of a role in a peace process unless it changed its tune on the wall, Solana retorted that Europe had become such an important player that it would be involved whether "you like it or not". Chawki Armali, Palestinian envoy to the EU, said it was "an agreeable surprise" that the EU had found a unanimous voice on what the pro-Palestinian lobby calls the "apartheid wall". Steven Everts from the Centre for European Reform in London says that - unlike the war in Iraq - "new" Europe was willing to row in behind "old" Europe in this instance because the latter had agreed a common line. "We should not be surprised that Israel said the EU can no longer be an honest broker," he adds. "What Israel does all the time when the EU does things that it does not approve of is to accuse Europe of anti-Semitism. "They [Europeans] should absolutely not accept it when Israel says they can only be a credible player if they subscribe to Israeli diplomatic positions. The fact of the matter is that you cannot build a wall on somebody else's land." Oded Eran, Israel's ambassador to the EU, stresses that the wall is a necessary "security fence" against suicide bombers. He says: "We do recognize the legitimate interest of the EU in region and obviously in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. But we expect a more balanced position on issues which are existential to us. Defence is an existential issue to us." Solana was invited to Israel by Sharon to discuss the possibility that the EU would provide financial support for his plan to withdraw from Gaza. Israeli supporters of the Gaza disengagement have been looking to Egypt to take the lead in filling the security vacuum that would develop once withdrawal becomes a reality. "What are the Europeans doing to prepare for the withdrawal from Gaza?" asks Steven Everts. "It's going to be fiendishly difficult. The UK government is providing some training in intelligence and security [to the Palestinian security forces]. And the French are doing some things. But other European states - and the EU as a whole - are absent. "It is very much in our interest that the Gaza withdrawal is not a failure. Cynics would say the reason why Sharon chose Gaza is because it is bound to fail and then he can say 'how can you leave the Palestinians to run their own affairs?'" This strip of land bordering the Mediterranean has been plagued recently with the most serious intra-Palestinian squabbling since Yasser Arafat was elected president of the Palestinian Authority in 1996. Although there is growing disquiet among Palestinians - especially the younger generations - concerning Arafat's reluctance to reform, the EU's official line is that he remains their democratically chosen leader. Chawki Armali says he is disturbed by the events over the past few weeks: "The [Palestinian] leadership must be attentive to what the people ask." Because the EU is the biggest aid donor to the Palestinian Authority, some analysts believe it should be supporting leaders more open to democracy than Arafat. "The EU is spending millions on building institutions and training people," says Geoffrey Aronson from the Washington Foundation for Middle East Peace. "In that sense it is heavily and intimately involved in picking winners in the Palestinian Authority. "I'm not sure it would be positive to go beyond that policy. He [Arafat] is still considered by the Palestinians as their elected president." |
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