Brussels 07/09/2009 (agence EUROPE) -Carl Bildt, Swedish Foreign Affairs Minister and President-in-exercise of the Council of the EU, has cancelled his planned trip to Israel leaving this Friday. This visit would come against the backdrop of an increasing row, further to the publication in Swedish press of a report alleging that organs had been stolen from dead Palestinians. Israel, which dismissed the report in the periodical Aftonbladet as anti-Semitic, has demanded that action be taken over the publication. The Swedish government, on the other hand, takes the view that it is not its job to censor the press. The Jerusalem Post announced that a member of staff of the Swedish Embassy had announced the cancellation of the visit, which was then confirmed by a spokesperson to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A spokesperson to Minister Bildt, quoted by the newspaper, nonetheless took pains to stress that no trip had been cancelled as no date had so far been finalised. She added that Carl Bildt's travel arrangements would under no circumstances be dependent on the publications of the Aftonbladet. The daily newspaper added that in any event, the "head of the Israeli government, who did not intend to meet the Swedish representative", "had expressed his displeasure" last week to Javier Solana, High Representative of the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy.
It appears probable that the cancellation of the trip owes more to growing tension in relations between the EU and Israel, and between Israel and the US, since the official announcement by the Israeli government that the construction of 366 new apartments in the West Bank has been approved. On Monday 7 September, Defence Minister Ehud Barak even approved the construction of a total of 455 dwellings, whilst all of his partners were calling for a moratorium on building, in hopes that the peace process could be relaunched. The Palestinians have made it clear that they would not return to the negotiating table until a total moratorium was in place and, according to local press, the American envoy George Mitchell is expected in the course of this week to make new attempts to put the peace process back on track. The Israeli prime minister, however, appears to be stuck between the repeated demands of his international partners and those from members of his coalition. "On Sunday 6 September, Benjamin Netanyahu faced the strongest criticisms since he returned to the post of prime minister. Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom accused him of abandoning the ideology of the party by agreeing to meet the leader of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas", notes the Jerusalem Post. In the view of Tzipi Livni, former head of diplomacy and leader of the opposition, "the government is playing a dangerous game by trying to please everybody". A spokesperson to his party, Kadima, Shmoulik Dahan, took accusations further by telling the press that "Netanyahu is acting with unprecedented charlatanism both towards his own coalition as well as towards the best of our friends [the United States]". (F.B./transl.fl)