The Last Straw Another suicide bomber in Israel; another indication that there is no desire for peace from the Palestinian Authority.
The uselessness of negotiating with Arafat has never been clearer. Either he has control of the Intifadah, with its associated terrorist attacks, in which case they are operating with his knowledge and consent, or he has absolutely no control of Al-Aqsa, or other terrorist groups, in which case he is irrelevant to the peace process. In either case, negotiating with him is an exercise in futility.
So why does the EU insist that Arafat must be given room to maneuver? Why do they continue to act as his champion, supporting him with their prestige, and more vitally, their money? Why do they continue to pressure Israel and the US to deal with this man who has demonstrated time and again his outright treachery? Even with his record of lies and false promises, the EU still consider Arafat as the key to peace in the Middle East.
So the question is, "Why does the EU support this man?" Rather than taking the easy out and blaming anti-Semitism, I look in a different direction.
The EU is the new kid on the block, and they are trying to prove themselves on the international stage. As the piece in the Guardian showed, they want to be a power equal to the US on a global scale. In order to achieve that equality, they must demonstrate that their influence is equal to the US. This cannot be demonstrated by agreeing with US policy, since “Me too!” is hardly an expression of equality. So, the EU must set themselves up in opposition to the US, and make an impact, in order to demonstrate their equality. In a way, the EU is like a teenager defying his parents, in order to prove his independence. It doesn’t really matter what the issue is, or whether they are right or wrong; successful defiance is the goal.
The problem is that the individual European countries have been irrelevant on a global scale for so long that they are carrying a big chip on their shoulders, and want to show that they are no longer relatively powerless. Like an unruly teen they declare to the US, “You’re not the boss of me!” Sadly for them, that power they hunger for is still largely illusory. While trying to gather a coalition to support their actions, the US has demonstrated willingness, and more importantly the capability of acting independently. The EU is still very much a tag-a-long kid brother, and that infuriates them. The situation is an ironic twist on the American Revolution, with the EU now playing the part of the upstart youth. Unfortunately for Europe, second childhoods are usually marked more by progression to senility rather than to adulthood.
So, they picked the other side in an ongoing fight, not because they really believed in it, but because it was opposite the US. They backed Arafat. They pulled him in to some secret meetings, told him to play nice, and they would give him nice presents, and what the hell, he agreed. Europe stole a march on the US and accomplished what we could not. Peace in the Middle East was at hand.
Except that Arafat didn’t keep his promises. He took the money they gave him and bought weapons, and explosives. He funded training camps for his terrorists, and began making loud noises about Israel failing to hew to the accords, as he blatantly broke them. Europe couldn’t admit their mistake, so they continued to fund him, believing his promises that this time he really would build infrastructure. Except, he spelled it I-N-T-I-F-A-D-A-H. The translation was a little garbled.
And now the EU is stuck to Arafat tighter than Bre’r Rabbit on the tar baby. They’ve sunk not just their money and prestige in backing Arafat, but also their self-concept as a global player. Admitting that they backed the wrong side would be humiliating for the EU, and could possibly cause a complete breakup.
Posted by Rich at March 21, 2002 9:26 PM