To no one's surprise, the United States has rejected a French proposal that the creation of a Palestinian state be a starting point for renewed Middle East peace negotiations. The proposal, set out in Spain at a meeting of EU foreign ministers, flies in the face of Israel and the US position which seeks a more or less permanent cease-fire before any negotiations can begin.
But to the surprise of many, the EU has quite suddenly showed “more courage” in shaping a Middle East policy, something which Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi urged Europe to do. Though Washington quickly brushed aside the French proposal, the refusal does not detract from the fact that Europe has begun to take a more assertive role in the Middle East to counter Washington’s pro-Israeli stance. Indeed, it is but one more sign of a growing divergence of views between the two sides on how best to treat the Arab-Israeli conflict. Although the EU has repeatedly called on Yasser Arafat to clamp down on militancy, it has rejected Ariel Sharon’s attempts to sideline him and it has been irked by America’s willingness to follow suit.
The European Union, like the United States, has vested interests, a role to play and a voice which must be heard in the conflict. The Israeli Army has wrought damage worth an estimated $14.5 million on EU-funded property and projects in Palestine. The destruction by Israel of a Palestinian school-building program, a sea port, Gaza airport, a radio station and broadcasting studios, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, greenhouses and an irrigation scheme, prompted EU Foreign Affairs Commissioner Chris Patten to declare he was “shocked and astounded at what is happening.”
As pressure from the EU builds, so, too, is pressure mounting on Sharon from within. For the first time since he was elected a year ago, the wall-to-wall consensus Sharon has built around him has begun to crack. The fractures are clear. One is Sharon’s slump in poll ratings, down from 57 percent in December to 48 percent last month.
Another is the slow, dawning realization among more and more Israelis that there is not a military solution to their conflict with the Palestinians. Expressing moral qualms, 52 Israeli reservists signed a letter in the press last week saying they would refuse to implement government policies in the occupied territories, prompting a national debate about the legitimacy of the occupation and the methods being used by the army against Palestinians. Support for the reservists has come from some unexpected quarters. Ami Ayalon, the former head of Israel’s Shin Bet security agency, said he felt “a lot of empathy for them.” It would be a disaster, Ayalon added, for Israel to try to end the uprising through military means. The remarks, of course, ran against the grain of Israel’s handling of the 16-month-old intifadah. Sharon has also locked horns with Israel’s parliamentary speaker over a planned visit to the Palestinian assembly. The dispute could threaten the unity of the coalition government.
At the same time, international support for Israel has never been lower. It is compromising itself by its repressive occupation and its indiscriminate killing of Palestinian civilians. Sharon’s demands that the United States help in tightening the diplomatic and economic noose around the Palestinian Authority were not granted in his meeting with President Bush — especially since they were made without some vision of what comes after or instead of them. The United States has been pleading for peace but by avoiding its precise definition, it has perpetuated the conflict. The EU has, by contrast, come up with a solid proposal. Europe should no longer be timid in using its influence in the Arab-Israeli conflict.
