Written by Franck Biancheri (English translation of an article published in French in NM on July 14th)
Wednesday, 02 August 2006
Honor to whom honor is due! The EU must act so that the destruction of public and private infrastructures perpetrated by the Israeli army immediately stops. The EU should not only present a proposal in this sense at the UN Security Council; it should also act by itself and enforce political, technological and commercial restrictions on the Hebrew state as long as the destructions will go on, or in case they start again.
It is no longer time to react on a case-by-case or day-to-day basis. The Israelo-Palestinian relation must start getting civilised, even and especially in times of crisis. And, considering the confirmed incompetence of the US in playing such a role in the region, it belongs to the EU to face the responsibility, for the sake of a region that is part of its direct neighbourhood. This means to act and take risks, and to stop talking and doing nothing as it has been the case for too long.
If it displeases Israeli leaders or some lobbies in Europe or Washington, it is their problem! For the 500 million European citizens, it is becoming more and more intolerable that the EU does not interfere politically and decisively in a conflict taking place at its doors while it is the principal donor of all kinds of aid (it is our grants that the Israeli army keeps on destroying in front of a dumb EU). With over a million Israeli citizens holding an EU-member state passport, the EU is party to the Hebrew state’s domestic policy, and vice-versa. It is time to recall and turn into action this political, geographic and principial (the EU cannot accept that a civilian population is hostaged for military reasons) reality.
And now, let’s consider the Palestinian side. To begin with, let’s be clear: democratic elections took place in Palestine, bringing out a majority. The winner is in a legitimate position to govern, and the piteous efforts inspired by Washington and Tel Aviv to deprive the Palestinian government from having access to international funds only strengthen those in the world who think that the West (a concept that now exists in the political rhetoric only) uses the democratic issue in its sole personal interest. The EU has already chosen to restrict the impact of the extreme position advised by Washington, but it has given up convincing of the perversion of their approach. Nevertheless, it is by sabotaging the peace process, by supporting a corrupt Palestinian regime, and by negating democratic choices, that the way is paved for movements such as Hamas to take over… and by doing the contrary that a society is stabilised and that peace is prepared.
In parallel to its action towards Israel, the EU should clearly inform the Palestinian authorities that any support, active or passive, to terrorist acts, will result in sanctions equivalent to those enforced against the Hebrew state (in the event, for Palestinian leaders, restricted move within the EU, aid reduction…). And so much for certain capitals and lobbies yelling their injustice! The EU must enforce a policy where both parties are taken as a whole. It must not favour one party over another. It must strive to solve a problem, rather than measure the value of this or that player.
To be efficient, this approach must altogether establish a complete parallel between both Israeli and Palestinian parties, and at the same time establish a radical difference among them when it comes to policy implementation, in order to avoid the « it’s not me, it’s him » rhetoric that has paralysed all evolution in the region in the past years. By any means, this EU policy should avoid being hostaged by one side or another, it is a long-term policy, a one-generation at least strategy, enforceable for at least twenty years (a minimum length of time in order to induce sustainable positive changes).
For this reason, the above-described policy - that I will personally advise Newropeans to adopt in the forthcoming debates about the EU’s future foreign policy - needs a third constructive part, one common to both Israelis and Palestinians, directed towards their youth. This part will not seek to give lessons to the youth of both sides; it will simply associate them to the work of invention conducted by the European youth, via university exchanges, via political and associative networking,…, to build each day the tools and methods that turn diversity into an asset and difference into an opportunity. Just by being associated to this work, young Palestinians and young Israelis can find the elements they need in order to start solving their common problems… which they only are likely to solve one day.
Last December, during a series of conferences that I gave in both Palestinian and Israeli universities and associations, I had the opportunity to note how strong was the longing to be associated to a programme such as Erasmus in this region. I was also able (no surprise!) to note how unwilling to head to this direction were the bureaucrats of both sides. It is about this third constructive part of its policy that the EU should be the most pro-active and decided. No call from the youth of both countries can be ignored. On the contrary, that’s where the EU must act, invest, help in priority. Obviously, a whole generation must pass before the situation starts to « normalise ».
Be fast EU ! Or it will be two or three generations that will be sacrificed…
Franck Biancheri, Newropeans President Paris (France)
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Transcontinental 
It is no longer time to react on a case-by-case or day-to-day basis. The Israelo-Palestinian relation must start getting civilised, even and especially in times of crisis. And, considering the confirmed incompetence of the US in playing such a role in the region, it belongs to the EU to face the responsibility, for the sake of a region that is part of its direct neighbourhood. This means to act and take risks, and to stop talking and doing nothing as it has been the case for too long.
The three post-war scenarios regarding EU-US relations
