*** OT *** We should condemn - not condone - Yasser Arafat
What purpose, other than a mischievously
partisan encouragement of Palestinian
intransigence, is served by the UN's attempt to
incriminate and isolate Israel? Why, in
particular, is Britain meekly toeing the
traditionally pro-Arab line of French
diplomacy? Such pusillanimity is nothing out of
the ordinary. Robin Cook routinely criticises
Israel, still the only true democracy in the
Middle East, while turning a blind eye to the
iniquities of Arafat's oriental despotism.
Are Foreign Office Arabists to blame?
Institutional anti-Semitism at the FCO has
never been eradicated, though it disguises
itself as anti-Zionism nowadays. This,
however, cannot be the only explanation. Even
more powerful is the imperative of EU foreign
policy, which in practice defines itself in
opposition to Washington.
After much agonising, the United States
decided to abstain rather than veto the latest
UN resolution, in order to preserve its role as
honest broker. But the Americans openly
denounced its anti-Israeli bias. Britain could
and should have done the same. Instead, Mr
Cook obeyed the European line, which in
practice is dictated from the Quai d'Orsay.
Yet Mr Cook now holds the office once
occupied by Lord Balfour, whose declaration
in 1917 made the Jewish state possible. The
British Foreign Secretary could still carry
weight on the international stage if he had the
courage to ask one simple question about the
present crisis: cui bono? Who stands to gain
from the violence?
Not the Israelis, who are stunned by the speed
with which years of patient diplomacy have
been set at nought, not only by the
Palestinians, but by Jordan, Egypt and the
other "moderate" Arab states. A generation of
Israelis that has known only peace is now, with
sinking hearts, preparing for war. The rhetoric
of reconciliation has turned to dust in Jewish
mouths.
No, the only beneficiary of the bloodshed is the
man who denounces it most loudly: Arafat. His
cynicism is breathtaking. Knowing that his
time is short, the old man has reverted to type.
The much-fêted statesman is once again
posing as a warlord. And once again his allies
are threatening to fight Israel to the last drop of
Palestinian blood.
There will be an emergency Arab summit in
Cairo next week, at which Saddam Hussein
may rear his ugly head for the first time since
the Gulf War. It is as if the Arabs had suddenly
pressed the rewind button on the Middle East.
History does not repeat itself, but historic
errors of diplomacy do. By siding with Arafat
against Barak, the Foreign Secretary is doing
his little bit to prolong the agony of the Middle
East.
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