Not to reap more whirlwinds

Israel's non-resident ambassador to Malta does his job with commitment and fervour. Whenever he visits and is interviewed by the media he projects his country's interest from a single and narrow perspective, like practically no diplomatic representative of any other country ever does. He was at it again in an interview with this newspaper (May 8) over the weekend.

The interview was striking for what it did not cover, as well as for the underlying fundamentalism of the diplomat's replies and elaborations. The ambassador declared that his country's association with the EU was "an ideal one."

"Perhaps in the future," he added, "we (can) establish something even closer. But in life you have to be realistic. When the EU offers us membership we will consider it but, of course, I can't see them offering it to us. Though Israel is in Europe you never think of Israel without looking at its neighbours. And if you find one Arab country that answers to the criteria set by the EU, it'll be a major miracle."

Miracles are rare events nowadays, not least in the Holy Land. Arab countries do not fit the criteria required by membership of the EU for the simple reason that they are not part of Europe. Whether ongoing statistical definition does pluck Israel out of its environment to make it a part of Europe is a matter for debate. That aside, the suggestion that the EU should or would "offer" membership betrays a particular attitude. The Union does not "offer" membership: countries apply for it, and are then considered.

The ambassador told his interviewer that Israel had a lot of reasons not to feel comfortable with certain aspects in Europe. "History has taught us that, too," he said. Probably only neo-Nazis who insist on re-writing the past can disagree with that assertion.

But then to go on to claim that, recently, the positions of Europe were not close to Israel's, to insist that Europe should "take into account the Israeli interests as well" and that Europe was "not sensitive enough to the Israeli loss of life" is equivalent to a demand that 'Europe' uses Nelson's telescopes, or acts like the Bush administration.

The horror and seething injustice that compose that part of the Middle East do not include Israel alone. The Palestinians are part of it. It is they who were displaced so that the state of Israeli could be set up. It is they who suffer the consequences as Israel expands in defiance of United Nations resolutions.

It is the Palestinians who are persistently shepherded into further restricted space as the Israeli government allows settlers to effect further displacement under the protection of the Israeli military, in further arrogant defiance of a sizable chunk of world public opinion, including in Israel itself.

The interview did not even touch upon this root cause of the intensification of tension in the area. The circle of death that has cursed Palestinians and Israelis for decades will not be broken because the American administration blatantly takes sides and turns a blind eye to much that is perpetrated by the Israeli authorities and settlers who fan the raging fires with fresh arrogant, unilateral and unjust action.

It will not be dismantled through diplomatic rhetoric and barely hidden evasion of the fundamental causes of burning issues. Whereas the early terrorism of those who fought for the setting up of the state of Israel in the wake of the Second World War did achieve its objective, terrorism and counter violence today will not win the Palestinians the rights they hunger for and are entitled to.

It may seem paradoxical, but the key to a solution lies in the hands of the Israeli authorities themselves. While it is natural that they should be vigilant against attacks on their citizenry, it is they who have to commit themselves to a just solution. That would still not make it easy to achieve.

There is too much blood sown in that troubled land, more whirlwinds preparing to sprout.

But, with sense and forbearance, with true manifestation of good intent, those whirlwinds need not be reaped. That is not within the scope of ambassadors to bring about. Diplomats can only reflect their government's policies. They could, however, do it in suitably measured and restrained terms.