Let us not pay too much attention to what Israel
is saying, but to what Israel is actually doing
on the ground. And what Israel has been and is
doing on the ground in no way suggest that Israel
is interested in a true peace with the Palestinians.
On Thursday, 16 November, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero announced during a visit to France a new European “peace initiative” to bring clam to the Israeli-Palestinian arena. He rightly stressed that the international community couldn’t remain idle as violence was raging unabated between the two sides.
France and Italy joined ranks with Spain in the hope that the initiative would win the backing of the two other major European powers, namely Britain and Germany, and eventually be formally adopted by the European Union.
The initiative, to be presented to an EU summit in December, is made up of five main points: Formation of a national unity Palestinian government which can gain international recognition, an exchange of prisoners between Israel and the Palestinians, resumption of talks, an immediate ceasefire between the two sides, and the deployment of an international mission in the Gaza strip to monitor a ceasefire.
Justifying his initiative, Zapatero said “peace between Israel and the Palestinians means to a large extent peace on the international scene,” adding that “we can’t remain impassive in the face of the horror that continues to unfold before our eyes.”
Earlier, UN Secretary General Kufi Anan pointed out that the conflict in Palestine was the main reason for tension between Islam and the West. Even the usually duplicitous and mendacious British Prime Minister Tony Blair spoke along the same lines during an interview with the newly-launched Aljazeera International Television channel Friday night, 17 November.
Interestingly, nearly all Palestinian factions, including Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, have more or less accepted the new initiative, with the Islamic Jihad group, probably the most radical faction, declaring its willingness and readiness to observe a ceasefire with Israel provided Israeli reciprocity.
However, as expected, Israel “rejected out of hand” the fresh peace initiative.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livini reportedly told her Spanish counterpart Miguel Angel Moratinos that Israel preferred “direct talks with the Palestinians without outside interference.”
A senior Israeli official, quoted by the Ha’aretz newspaper, was quoted as saying that “this initiative will not rise up.”
Naivety
Well, I am sure that the Spanish Prime Minister is sincere about his feeling that the enduring Israeli occupation of Palestine, which is nothing short of an enduring act of rape, is seriously undermining peace and security in the world, including Europe itself.
I am equally sure that Europe, unlike the United States which is generally at Israel’s beck and call, would like to see a an end to the Israeli occupation of the occupied territories and the creation of a viable Palestinian state or quasi-state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
However, given my knowledge of Zionism and the intricacies of the conflict in Palestine, I believe the latest European initiative reflects, in addition to the sincerity and good will, utter European naivety and poor understanding of the situation in Palestine/Israel.
I really wonder why the EU doesn’t embark on a really thorough investigation into the reasons and factors behind the failure of all peace efforts and initiatives pertaining to the Middle East from the Rogers’ Plan in 1968 to the now- moribund American-backed initiative known as the “Roadmap”?
Moreover, I would challenge EU leaders, especially those advocating the latest initiative, to cite a single reason why their present initiative would succeed when the numerous other previous initiatives failed?
Is Israel now more amenable to peace than it has ever been? Is Israel finally willing to give up the spoils of the 1967 war, without which everyone knows no real peace settlement can be reached, let alone maintained and sustained? These are crucial questions for which EU must seek true and accurate answers before embarking on peace initiatives with a reasonable chance of success.
Israel doesn’t want peace
Well, the reason why all peace efforts since 1967 have failed is very simple. Israel vehemently rejects any “peace settlement” with the Palestinians that would force the Zionist state to explicitly or implicitly give up the spoils of the 1967 war. This is the crux of the matter that every serious peace-maker must always keep in mind when delving into this matter.
This is very clear from the intensive building of hundreds of Jewish-only settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. Needless to say, this unrelenting colonialism and territorial expansion continue unabated despite the mostly token American and European reservations.
Here is a question to Europe: Is a country that builds hundreds of colonies on illegally occupied land and transfers hundreds of thousands of its citizens to live on that land on dispossess the native inhabitants, really sincere about reaching peace with its neighbors?
Yes, Israel does want “peace” on her own terms just as Nazi Germany wanted peace on its own terms.
But, yes, Israel does want a “solution” with the Palestinians, one that would be worse than a total surrender.
Israel wants a solution that would reflect “reality” and “the balance of power,” and brazenly excluding human rights and the rule of international law.
And, yes, Israel is even willing and ready to allow for the creation of a Palestinian state (unfortunately the bulk of the western media keeps parroting these Israeli lies). Well, does Europe understand what kind of Palestinian “state” does Israel have in mind, when every voicing her willingness to accept the two-state solution “
Let us not pay too much attention to what Israel is saying, but to what Israel is actually doing on the ground. And what Israel has been and is doing on the ground in no way suggest that Israel is interested in a true peace with the Palestinians.
Instead, Israel wants to retain its occupation and domination over Palestine and the Palestinians by truncating and mutilating their homeland into hapless, miserable and claustrophobic “townships” and “Bantustans” cut off from each other and a zero economic viability. This is the “historical peace and reconciliation” Zionism insists on imposing on the poor, helpless Palestinians.
In other words, Israel wants any prospective Palestinian “state” to be a series of mishmash of detention, internment and concentration camps, with no freedom, no economy and no future. And that would be the ultimate prescription for another “voluntary Palestinian immigration” from their homeland.
Needless to say, any international efforts undermining or interfering with these Israeli designs will be utterly rejected by the Israeli government.
This is why Israel insists on “direct talks with the Palestinians” just as the rapist would demand that he be allowed to sort it out with his victim since intervention by a third party would expose the villain.
But why has Israel been allowed to get away with impunity after all these years of criminality, land theft and lies?
Well, the answer is very clear and it lies in Washington where American Zionism has been for decades in tight control of American politics and policies.
This means, that unless the EU is seriously willing to part from the Zionist American discourse on the Middle East, no European or non-European peace initiatives will ever succeed.
Sorry, Mr. Zapatero, I have bad news for you and your European partners. Your initiative will die before it is born. Just read my lips.
(end)
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November 18, 2006 © Copyright November 18, 2006 by Khalid Amayreh - amayreh@p-ol.com This article originates on http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org - Permission is granted for reprint in print, email, blog, or web media if this credit, © By Khalid Amayreh, for thepeoplesvoice.org, is attached and the title and text remain unchanged. 'Those naïve Europeans', posted here: http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2006/11/18/those_naive_europeans
