Washington — European leaders have lined up behind Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat with a peace plan designed to give him, free of charge, everything and more that he turned down at the negotiating table and then failed to achieve in 17 bloody months of intifada.
In the process, the European Union, led by the French, have set themselves on a collision course with Washington and Jerusalem.
E.U. foreign ministers, meeting recently in Spain, complained that Washington is too pro-Israel and Jerusalem too preoccupied with security. So they’ve decided to step in with a one-sided proposal of their own.
The French-designed plan has two major flaws: It is certain to harden Arafat’s intransigence, and it’s sure to fail.
It is as much a poke in the American eye as it is a ritual slap at Israel by countries that weep for slain Palestinians but shrug their shoulders at each new terror bombing against Israel.
As President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon were meeting in the Oval Office and reaffirming their joint demand that Arafat halt the violence and dismantle the terror infrastructure as a prerequisite to resuming peace negotiations, the French were presenting their plan in Spain, telling the Palestinian leader he can safely ignore anything coming out of Washington and Jerusalem.
The E.U. proposal, adopted unanimously, will be finalized by the foreign ministers before being presented to a European summit in Barcelona next month. It gives a shocking new meaning to appeasement.
No negotiations, no cease-fire, no crackdown on extremists. Just quickie elections and unconditional recognition of the Palestinian state.
A non-starter
The French plan calls for immediate elections to validate Arafat’s corrupt dictatorship — since his multiple security systems are in control, it is folly to expect any realistic challengers — followed by diplomatic recognition of the Palestinian state by Israel and others, and its immediate admittance to the United Nations.
Israel and Palestine would then sign “a declaration of non-belligerency” and begin negotiating a peace treaty based on U.N. Security Council resolutions. That could include some that Israel reject such as a return to 1947 partition lines and resolutions affirming Palestinian demands for right of return for all refugees.
The net effect of the E.U. plan — even in the dubious event it is well-intentioned — is to diminish American influence, reward Arafat and the extremists and shore up the paranoid visions of the Israeli right.
The plan is a non-starter because the Europeans have no credibility with Israel. The Jordan Times this week called the E.U. “Yasser Arafat’s main backer” and the Palestinian Authority’s “financial backbone.”
The E.U. already is threatening to sue Israel for reparations for destruction of P.A. infrastructure it financed.
The E.U. move is unwelcome at the White House, which is disappointed with the lack of European support — with the notable exception of Britain — for the war against terrorism.
The Bush Administration has been urging the Europeans to help press Arafat to end the violence and crack down on the extremists. But the E.U. appeasers decided to do just the opposite.
This comes against a backdrop of rising anti-Semitism in Europe, particularly France. Attacks against Jewish schools, synagogues and other institutions in France averaged nearly one-a-day last year.
French Jews are disappointed that the two leading candidates in this year’s presidential elections, incumbent Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, are not taking the problem seriously. Moslems outnumber Jews three-to-one in France, and the gap is growing steadily.
Chirac’s government also took no action against its ambassador to England when he referred to Israel as a “sh—ty little country” and asked “Why should the world be in danger of World War III because of those people?”
The French relationship with Arafat is long-standing. In the 1970s, they effectively let the PLO use their country as a terror base as long as the operations took place elsewhere.
French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine, who has called Israeli policy “pure repression” and American policy “simplistic,” said the snap elections would “support the P.A.’s popular legitimacy in its efforts to crack down” on extremists.
Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Pique said Israel’s demand for security and an end to the violence is an obstacle to peace. The Europeans are offended by American and Israeli insistence that peace negotiations cannot resume until there is a cease-fire, he said.
Such pronouncements can only encourage more violence and decrease the likelihood that Arafat will do anything about it. He has long sought refuge in the arms of the Europeans for protection from American pressure.
If the E.U. nations’ goal is to encourage greater flexibility on both sides, they are doing the opposite. They are handing Arafat a great undeserved victory and telling him that terrorism works, keep it up.
What Arafat has failed to achieve through violence and terrorism, the French want to hand him unconditionally. This won’t work, and it will probably only prolong the killing and set back any hope for resuming negotiations.
If the French really want to help, they should stick to what they do best — surrender and give up on this plan to reward Palestinian terrorism.
Douglas M. Bloomfield is a Washington, D.C.-based syndicated columnist and a former chief lobbyist for AIPAC.
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