Solana y Felipe

 

Both Spaniards – Javier Solana and Felipe González – along with a few Europeans retired from politics have just sent a letter to the European Union requesting sanctions against Israel and a boycott on its products until it puts an end to building Jewish settlements in the West Bank. It’s either for ignorance, bad faith, or ulterior motives.

 

For starters, they’re unaware of two basic facts: Firstly, that the Palestinians have never seen the issue of settlements as fundamental for the peace process and, if they’re using it now as a weapon, it’s because they thought the Obama administration did see it as a serious obstacle for peace and, of course, the Palestinians wanted to do well out of it. It was just an excuse.

 

Secondly, that the Israelis have always been open to exchange land for peace. They withdrew from Southern Lebanon and they completely withdrew from Gaza, just as the time they left the Sinai. However, those withdrawals have only translated into more insecurity and more attacks against the Jewish State. For Israel, land isn’t the problem, its security is.

 

With this letter, not only are they more pro-Palestinian than the Palestinians themselves; but more Obamite than Obama himself, because Washington has just announced that, for the United States, the settlement issue is no longer key for the negotiations. Not, at least, until all the parties agree upon the geographical borders. After all, the settlements don’t represent more than a 1.6 percent of all the West Bank.

 

What’s remarkable about this letter is its closing arguments: They want to move away from Israel because they think Europe’s commercial interests lie in the Arab world – and perhaps the signatories’ own interests after all. Felipe González already paid a visit to Iran in the summer of 2006; it was a private visit that included a meeting with Ahmadinejad. After the meeting, González ended up justifying Iran’s right to develop nuclear energy.

 

Unfortunately, anti-Zionism is fed by encouraging such stances. And we already know what happens when the Jews are left at the feet of the executioners in Europe.