Seeking an Alternative to Two States European Right Wing Stirs Up Middle
East Peace Process
By <
http://www.spiegel.de/extra/0,1518,632144,00.html> Charles Hawley
Right-wing populists are not widely known for pursuing peace in Europe. But
in the Middle East, they are seeking to change that reputation. A conference
right-wing politicians helped organize between Palestinian clan leaders and
Jewish settlers took place on Thursday in Hebron. They are billing it as an
alternative path to peace in the region.
07/07/2012
European right-wing populist parties are widely vilified back home. Deeply
wary of the euro, extremely -- and vocally -- suspicious of
<
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/following-in-switzerland-s-foot
steps-international-right-wingers-gather-for-eu-wide-minaret-ban-a-685896.ht
ml> Muslim immigrants and virulently opposed to the center-left
multicultural ideal, they are broadly seen as little more than dangerous
makers of mischief on the political stage. Often, they are conflated with
neo-Nazi groups even further to the right.
Overseas, however, particularly among Israeli right-wing politicians and
West Bank settlers, they are often viewed more favorably. On Thursday,
representatives from several European right-wing political parties joined
senior settler leaders, second-tier Israeli politicians, Orthodox Jewish
leaders and a number of Palestinian clan leaders at the home of Sheikh Farid
al-Jabari in Hebron. They came together with no less than the goal of
establishing an alternative to the two-state, Israeli-Palestinian peace
process.
"First and foremost, we are interested in achieving peaceful coexistence in
the region. I think that needs to be the goal of all efforts,"
Heinz-Christian Strache, head of the right-wing populist Freedom Party of
Austria (FPÖ), told SPIEGEL ONLINE. "To that end, it is important to begin a
dialogue. I am convinced that a solution can be found in the near future
that is acceptable to all sides."
Strache himself was unable to attend the Thursday meeting, but his party,
primarily his close confidant David Lasar, an FPÖ member of the Viennese
city-state government, played an instrumental role in putting it together.
Joining Lasar in Hebron were Filip Dewinter, a Flemish parliamentarian from
the right-wing party Vlaams Belang, and Kent Ekeroth of the similarly minded
Swedish Democrats.
'Not Beloved by Everyone'
It wasn't the first such meeting between Sheikh Jabari and senior settler
leaders -- represented most prominently by Gershon Mesika, head of the
Shomron Regional Council, which administers 30 West Bank settlements -- to
have been midwifed by European right-wing populists. It follows on the heels
of a meeting hosted at the headquarters of European Parliament in mid-May by
Fiorello Provera, a member of the Italian anti-immigration party Liga Nord
and vice chair of the European Parliament's Foreign Relations Committee.
Although the meeting was not official parliamentary business, it
nevertheless carried symbolic value taking place as it did in Brussels.
"Palestinian society is nuanced. There is Hamas and there is the Palestine
Liberation Organization. But you also have ordinary people who think and act
differently than they do," Provera told SPIEGEL ONLINE in an interview. "The
settlers, too, are not beloved by everyone in Israel, they are considered to
be extremists. But they have to be understood. How do people expect to build
a peace agreement without listening to the various groups of Israelis and
Palestinians?"
Provera's question is a revealing one. European right-wing populists have
spent
<
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/the-likud-connection-europe-s-ri
ght-wing-populists-find-allies-in-israel-a-777175.html> much of the last two
years building relations with conservative Israeli politicians and West Bank
settlers. Provera himself went on a tour of the West Bank earlier this year,
following the path of several populist leaders before him, Strache included.
Most went to Israel with a deep-seated conviction that the country -- given
its presence on the front line in the conflict with Islam, as Strache told
SPIEGEL ONLINE last year -- deserves greater support from Europe. Most came
back with an even deeper mistrust of the Palestinian Authority and concern
that the two-state solution could merely result in another radical Muslim
state on Israel's doorstep. Their skeptical view of the
<
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/political-implications-of-the-ara
b-spring-18-months-on-a-842280.html> Arab Spring -- as an uprising of Muslim
fundamentalism -- has only reinforced such fears.
It is a position, of course, which closely parallels that of the populists'
main partners in Israel: conservative politicians from Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, parliamentarians from the ultra-orthodox
religious Shas party and settler leaders, who are concerned that the
two-state solution would force them to give up their homes and their claims
to part of what they see as the Jewish homeland.
Pursuing and Alternative Vision
Furthermore, the Palestinian Authority's ongoing flirtations with Hamas in
the Gaza Strip and continued reluctance to recognize Israel as a Jewish
state, as demanded by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have frustrated the
Israeli government. Indeed, in his speech before US Congress in 2011,
Netanyahu claimed disingenuously that, were the Palestinian Authority merely
to say, "We recognize Israel as a Jewish state," it would be sufficient to
end the conflict.
Though the path to dissatisfaction with the two-state peace process has been
different among some Palestinians, clan leaders such as Sheikh Jabari have
arrived at a similar conviction that an alternative vision must be pursued.
Jabari is deeply frustrated by what he describes as a corrupt Palestinian
Authority that has done little to help his native Hebron. Furthermore, he is
convinced that Palestinians can never accept a two-state solution due to
religious prerogatives forbidding Muslims from giving up claims to what they
see as Muslim land.
"We don't want to live under illusions," Jabari told SPIEGEL ONLINE. "The
creation of a Palestinian state is impossible. It is against our religious
principles because we cannot give up land. The idea is a stillbirth."
As an alternative, Jabari envisions a single state within which Palestinians
live legally and in peace with their Jewish neighbors. And he has taken
significant steps to make that vision a reality. For several years, Jabari
has nurtured contacts with Jewish leaders in Hebron and has hosted several
meetings aimed at, as he says, "eliminating the hate that has been building
in recent generations."
Some on the Israeli right see his efforts as a promising attempt to create
an alternative negotiating partner to the Palestinian Authority. "There is a
common understanding that the Palestinian Authority has really failed in
fulfilling the Oslo peace process vision," David Haivri, spokesman for
settlement administrator Mesika, told SPIEGEL ONLINE. "There might be many
who haven't considered an alternative. But I see Jabari as a possible
solution to the conundrum."
Claim to the West Bank
The Palestinian Authority, of course, is deeply concerned by the effort, and
particularly by the involvement of European politicians, whatever their
stripe. In May, the Foreign Affairs Ministry issued a strongly worded
condemnation of Mesika's invitation to visit members of the European
Parliament, calling him a terrorist and expressing its hope that it "will
not represent a new approach in dealing with the Palestinian Question."
A Foreign Ministry spokeswoman stressed to SPIEGEL ONLINE that the
Palestinian Authority remains the official partner to the international
community. "Not just anyone can represent the Palestinian people," she said.
Furthermore, the Palestinian Authority regards all settlements on the West
Bank as being in violation of international law, a position that Europe
officially supports.
Given that the Palestinian Authority's position is largely mirrored by that
of the international community, including the US, it remains unclear just
how fruitful the nascent dialogue might ultimately be. All those present on
Thursday vowed to meet again in the near future and optimism was in
abundance. Still, changing decades of peace politics, to say nothing of
finding common ground between two groups who believe in their historical and
religious rights to lay claim to the West Bank, promises to be difficult.
And for all their eagerness to heighten their foreign policy credentials in
order to emerge from the political margins back home, the role Europe's
right-wing populist parties will play in the Mideast remains an open
question. Although Haivri said he had limited expectations, he also offered
that, "by inviting us to Brussels and hosting us (on Thursday), the
Europeans are facilitating the dialogue." He added: "We are aware of the
historical ideology they stem from and we hope that the relationship they
have with the Jewish and Arab sides is a true sign that they have moved away
from racism."
Jabari, however, seemed more willing to overlook the provenance of his
chosen mediators. "It is not a problem to talk to the right-wing politicians
from Europe because they are straightforward and honest," he says. "The fact
that they are coming here and visiting us is proof that they are serious."
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Received on Sat Jul 07 2012 - 20:41:56 EDT
