Brussels / Stockholm, 19/04/2001 (Agence Europe) - Following its declaration of last week (see EUROPE of 18 April, p.5) the Swedish Presidency of the EU Council adopted another declaration on 19 April, calling for an end to violence in the Middle East:
"The EU is extremely concerned about the dangerous escalation of violence in the Middle East. The Israeli attack on Syrian objectives in Lebanon, the first in many years, as a retaliation for the Hizbollah attacks on the Shebaa farms, was an excessive and disproportionate reply. Furthermore, the excessive use of the army and the disproportionate Israeli reply to mortar attacks from Palestinian administered territories on Israeli targets further escalate violence and aggravate the conflict. Israeli incursions into Palestinian controlled territories are illegal and must not be repeated. The spiral of violence must be reversed. The price to be paid by the peoples of the region could be high. The EU urges all parties to act with maximum restraint, restore calm and do their utmost to prevent actions which may claim new victims. The EU remains convinced that there is no alternative to a negotiated solution based on international law, in particular UN Resolutions 242 and 338, and the principle of land for peace. The Union encourages both parties to engage in serious attempts to find a negotiated solution at this critical juncture and welcomes efforts that are made to this effect such as the Egyptian-Jordanian initiative."
In Stockholm, according to the TT press agency, Anna Lindh, President of the EU Council, said that she was not sure that Ariel Sharon could be brought back to the negotiating table, even if Washington played a more active role. The EU and the United States must act "in concert", but it is clear that, in the Middle East, the United States has more influence than the EU, she recognised. Louis Michel (future President of the EU Council) also told BELGA that the EU is not in a position to "take on the insurmountable role of the United States in the region". According to him, this would be "neither desirable, nor positive", even though the EU cannot limit itself to "financing the results of the politico-strategic moves of others".
Strong reaction from Israel, accusing the EU of "undermining its own credibility"
The Israeli ambassador to the EU, Harry Kney-Tal, immediately reacted to the EU declaration which, he says, is a further sign of the "partiality which has historically characterised European policy statements on the Middle East". The ambassador notes that, "for close to a year, Israel displayed considerable restraint in face of repeated attacks perpetrated (…) by the Hizbullah terrorists", and that the EU "did not raise its voice to condemn loud and clear these aggressions", whereas it "was quick to criticise the surgical attack on a Syrian military target". The sharp words used by the EU in the Israeli reaction to Palestinian attacks "are doing a disservice to both diplomatic initiatives to de-escalate the tension and the European goal of playing an enhanced role in the conflict resolution efforts in the Middle East", says Harry Kney-Tal in a press release. "By ignoring the Palestinian responsibility for the current spiral of violence, (…) the EU undermines its own credibility as an honest broker", the ambassador goes on, wondering: - could the cause of peace be advanced "by unilaterally admonishing one party to the conflict? - what would European States do under similar circumstances?" According to him, Europe would be more credible in Israeli eyes if "its sincere appeal, urging the parties to act with maximum restraint, were preceded by a clear, unequivocal condemnation of Palestinian excessive use of violence as a means of advancing political goals", and if it made a strong call to put an end to the "hatred campaign" which has "recently reached new peaks of virulence and hardly prepares Palestinian public opinion for the tough decisions which will be eventually necessary to advance the cause of a true and durable peace in the Middle East".