Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: La nostra risposta ai crimini di Gaza e' vergognosa

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,,1813522,00.html
Europe's response to the siege of Gaza is shameful
The Palestinians have no partner for peace. They will only have one if
Israel agrees to recognise Palestine's right to function
Jonathan Steele
Thursday July 6, 2006
The Guardian
Thank goodness for the Swiss. Alone in Europe, their government has
dared to condemn what the Israelis are doing to Gaza. It is collective
punishment, they say. It violates the principle of proportionality.
Israel has not taken the precautions required by international law to
protect civilians.
Inevitably, the bloggers are pouring out the usual irrelevancies about
the role of Swiss banks during the Nazi period. But as the depository
of the Geneva conventions, one of the key legal advances to emerge from
the ravages of the 20th century, Switzerland has a duty to speak out.
Article continues
Its statement stands in contrast to the European Union's shamefully
muted voice. The Palestinians kill two soldiers and take one prisoner
and, in response, power stations are blown up, sewage and water systems
grind to a halt, bridges are destroyed, sonic booms terrify children
day and night, and all this is inflicted on a hungry people who are
under siege in what is effectively a huge open prison. The EU's
response? Vague expressions of "concern" and calls for "restraint".
Is it World Cup madness? The rush for last-minute cheap summer holiday
deals? Couldn't European leaders show a tenth of the courage of
Israel's brilliant columnist, Gideon Levy? "It is not legitimate to cut
off 750,000 people from electricity. It is not legitimate to call on
20,000 people to run from their homes and turn their towns into ghost
towns. It is not legitimate to kidnap half a government and a quarter
of a parliament. A state that takes such steps is no longer
distinguishable from a terror organisation," he wrote this week in
Haaretz.
In a two hour appearance before MPs on Tuesday, all that Tony Blair
could produce was a classic fence-sitter: "I have learned enough about
this situation over the years to realise that going in and condemning
either side is not deeply helpful."
European impotence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is of course an
ancient problem. The disease's latest aggravation began in January
after Hamas's election victory. Here was an event which was bound to
have huge repercussions in Israel, on every state's relations with the
Palestinian authority, on the future of political Islam throughout the
Arab world, as well as on the west's image among Muslims. In short, it
was a moment where the time-honoured diplomatic technique - a pause for
reflection - was vital. The device is often used to cover unnecessary
delay. This time there was a genuine need to analyse and consult before
rushing to conclusions. There was no urgency since Israel was already
refusing to negotiate with President Mahmoud Abbas.
Yet the EU promptly lined up with the US and Israel in demanding Hamas
change its policies or be punished. The Quartet, a relatively recent
body set up to coordinate policies between the US, the EU, Russia and
the UN, became a trap, acting as an arm of the US state department for
keeping other states in line. The Quartet's demands on Hamas were
identical to Israel's.
Some European diplomats now regret their haste. The decision to cut aid
as well as contacts with the Palestinians is seen as a mistake. Last
month's French initiative to find a mechanism for resuming aid to Gaza
was the Quartet's first admission of error.
Refusing contact with Hamas was equally mistaken, especially as Hamas
had maintained a unilateral ceasefire for over a year (a point which
Israel tries to suppress). The fact that Hamas is defined as a
terrorist organisation need not have been a bar, since governments have
spoken to similar movements with nationalist agendas, be it the IRA,
the Tamil Tigers, or Eta. But again, thank goodness for the Swiss. As
non-EU members, they keep contact with Hamas and act as intermediaries
for other European governments which have trapped themselves into not
doing the same.
The outcome of the current crisis is unclear. However it ends, the
moment has surely come for Europe to break from its useless policy of
backing the US and Israel. The Olmert government is trying to destroy
not only Hamas but Mahmoud Abbas. Like Sharon's, it wants to undermine
every moderate Palestinian by showing them up as powerless. It seeks
only domination, not negotiation. Whether the ultimate agenda is to
starve all Palestinians into fleeing to Egypt, Jordan and even further
afield, or merely to keep Gaza as a prison of the unemployed and the
West Bank as a bunch of Bantustans, Israeli policy mocks every UN
resolution on the conflict.
The EU should admit that the Palestinians have no partner for peace.
They will only have one if Israel recognises Palestine's right to
function. Statements that Israel recognises a Palestinian state's right
to exist are empty as long as Olmert expands Jewish settlements and the
separation wall, and refuses to spell out how that state can operate as
a viable entity. Without the right to function, the right to exist is
hollow.
Olmert and his Labour party allies must also come clean on the last
serious Israeli peace formula, the Barak proposals which were put at
Taba five years ago. The Palestinians did not accept them, but
political circumstances were inauspicious - a fading Baruk government
and an ill Yasser Arafat. The same proposals might be acceptable now
and should be revived. If Kadima thinks of imposing or offering
anything less than Taba, then Israel cannot claim to want an end to the
conflict.
Finally, Israel must renounce violence, in particular the
assassinations of Palestinian leaders. The number of civilians killed
in these attacks this year alone far exceeds the number of Israeli
victims since Hamas declared its ceasefire last year. The facts do not
support the notion that Israel is "retaliating" to provocations. Last
week's Palestinian attack on a military outpost followed much greater
carnage by Israeli shells.
Some will argue that if the EU were to condemn Israeli actions, it
would lose influence with the Israeli government. But what has this
alleged influence managed to achieve since Sharon and Olmert have been
in power? The record is paltry.
Governments have greater effect by being morally clear and politically
firm. Condemnation and psychological isolation create "facts on the
ground" which can alert electorates, if not immediately their
governments. But the audience is not only in Israel. There is a global
audience which expects Europe to take the right stand. Whether Israel
chooses to listen should not be the decisive factor.

protect civilians.
Ma c'e' una bella differenza tra le chiacchere e i fatti. Quelle della
Svizzera sono solo mere chiacchere al momento :)
-Stefano

 
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Quoto
Tb