Opinion Editorials, June 2007
June 2007 Opinion Editorial Links
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Will Europe Recognize Its Responsibilities Towards Palestine?
By Salim Nazzal
ccun.org, June 11, 2007
The press release of Luisa Morgantini, the vice president of the European parliament which calls Europe to recognize its failure in its policy in the Palestine question reflect the worries in Europe about the deterioration situation in the Middle East. The later waves of violence which took place in Palestine and Lebanon and the daily Israeli air and land raids on Gaza and the west bank seems to be alarming European politicians towards calling for a more active position in the region. However, in spite of the limitations which the European parliament has on the European foreign policy of the E.U. there is no doubt that Morganati voice is a brave voice which seeks to upgrade the European engagement in the Middle East.
In recognizing the European responsibility towards the Palestinian suffering under the Israeli occupation, Morganton expresses what she described as the need to leave the time of words and to act in order to put an end to the 40 years old Israeli occupation.
Morgantini voice reminds Europe of its moral responsibility for the escalation of violence is an important step towards developing a stronger European engagement in the Middle East. During a thirty years Europe choose to ignore the Palestinian rights for self determination. It must be remembered that the declaration of Venice in 1982 marked the European involvement towards the recognition of the Palestinian self determination aspirations was late compared of the European role in creating the state of Israel: As an example, Europe converted the Balfour declaration in 1917 aiming at establishing a Jewish state into an international document adopted by the league of nations in 1923. This raises the question about the seriousness of the European role at forcing Israel to honor the UN resolutions.
The argument which claims that Europe is incapable to act decisively in the Palestinian question due to the absence of a collective policy among the countries which made the E.U. conceals the absence of the political will among major European countries in the E.U. The fact that Europe choose the economical assistance role in Palestine confirms the view that Europe is avoiding to anger the Us and Israel which do not want an active European role. This subordinated role has been obvious in the position of the E.U .towards the Hamas led government which sanctioned the support to Palestine which caused to the increscent of poverty in Palestine which its economy was already ruined due to 40 years of occupation. According to a recent report published by the Amnesty International about the situation in Palestine after 40 years of the Israeli occupation the poverty has increased dramatically.
The geopolitical reality should motivate Europe to be more interested in ending the Israeli occupation because it has become a fact that the culture of violence which this conflict generates is more likely to hit Europe than other countries. The growing of the fundamentalism in the Middle East and the growing of the anti Islam and racism in Europe are alarming signs to how things will develop in the future. Europe needs to review its policy by demonstrating that it is capable to take an independent policy from the Us. This can be done through a European collective plan to end the Israeli occupation after it has been proven that the appeasing policy towards Israel has led to no results.
The author is a Palestinian-Norwegian historian and political analyst. Can be contacted at: gibran44@hotmail.com
*The article is based on a speech by the author in a conference in Sweden (1-3 June, 2007) about the EU and the Palestinian question.
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