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PANNELLA CALLS ON EUROPE TO GIVE THE ARABS “RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY”
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Pannella calls on Europe to give the Arabs “rights and democracy”, but describes the idea of a Palestinian State as “madness”. The solution, he says, is “to bring Israel into the European Union”.
“To give the Palestinians their own state, dominated by ruthless dictatorial regimes like those of Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia, would mean adding insult to injury. The solution is to offer the Palestinians the same rights already enjoyed by the Israeli Arabs, and to allow Israel, the only democratic state in the Middle East, to join the European Union.”
In this interview with La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno, the MEP Marco Pannella outlines a proposal dear to the Transnational Radical Party. According to Pannella, Israeli membership of the European Union would be a solution to a tragedy that seems to have become inevitable, and would offer a real prospect of peace in the Middle East.
Only membership of the EU would make the borders of the small Jewish state more secure and allow it to make greater concessions in terms of territory. At that point the Palestinians, too, would understand that democracy is vitally important, while the path of terrorism is both hopeless and evil.
Is the proposal still valid, in your opinion, in the light of the latest developments?
“It is not only still valid: it is, in an increasingly clear and urgent manner, the only response to the current situation and to a future that is only too easy to foretell: a future of tragedy. There are many reasons that support the proposal - I will remind you only of the main one: it is ludicrous to expect the Israelis to maintain their characteristics as an ‘independent’ nation-state, and even more ludicrous, complete madness in fact, to give a State to millions of Palestinians oppressed by poverty, ignorance and a complete lack of human and civil rights.”
Are you thinking in terms of an Israeli-Palestinian Confederation associated to the European Union?
“To propose nation-states was conceivable in the context of the culture and the politics of the mid-nineteenth century. But the Treaty of Versailles after the First World War was already a failure because they thought it was possible to solve things by creating nation-states, and this was the root cause of the tragedy that ensued from the 1930s onwards.”
The Palestinians have been fighting to obtain their own sovereignty for forty years. Isn’t it now their right?
“The birth of the Palestinian State, as well as being a tragedy, because it would be closely linked to Syria, or to Iraq, or to Saudi Arabia, and therefore to an oligarchy totally extraneous to any modern democratic consciousness, would also threaten to undermine the foundations of the Jordanian monarchy. Millions of Palestinians live in Jordan, and it is the only Arab state in the region where there is still a glimmer of democracy. Let us not forget the threat of destabilisation, the fact that the fundamentalists have had a score to settle with King Hussein since the time of the ‘black September’. Try to imagine what might happen: ruthless repression, permanent war throughout the region, and obviously the end of the State of Israel.”
And yet it is precisely in this direction that the efforts of international diplomacy are moving: two states, Israel and Palestine.
“A state can only join the European Union if it respects all the civil, political and human rights contained in the various declarations of the UN and of the Council of Europe. If the Palestinians earned the same rights granted to Israeli Arabs, a democratic ‘bomb’ would strike Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. It would be the end of these regimes. It is unforgivably stupid and blind of us not to have seen this earlier.”
Have you not asked yourself whether the proposal is really practicable? Would France and Germany, for example, not be afraid of seeing their roles and powers diminished if they agreed to Israeli membership of the EU?
“The real obstacle is what Dahrendorf has already pointed to, the bureaucratic, or rather Christian-Social-bureaucratic character of the institutions and governments of Europe, whatever their political colour: in other words, a problem of resistance and inertia. In order to overcome this obstacle we need a campaign to gather public support.
Israel is weakened terribly by its PR voting system, its party coalitions, and its inability to introduce wide-reaching reforms. Although at the same time it is admirable because it has existed in a state of war for fifty years yet has somehow managed to maintain the essential characteristics of democracy.”
You will admit, at least, that your views on the issue are not easy to share?
“The problem is that neither the UN Charter nor European jurisprudence have ever placed the nation-state among the rights of the individual, and yet here we are offering it to the Palestinians as the solution for all their ills. Democracy and rights is what they really need.”
And what does Israel need?
“Israel represents 0.2% of the Middle East. In terms of size it is the equivalent of the eighth largest region in Italy. Just think what would happen if it made the concessions called for by the foolish pacifist movement, including the American pacifists. Every territory handed over in such a limited area becomes the most advanced post for the resumption of war and of the most catastrophic resolution of the current situation. But if Israel became the furthest outpost of the United Europe with its 400 million inhabitants, it could hand over everything, from Gaza to the West Bank, with nothing to be afraid of.”
Is there still a sort of anti-Jewish prejudice in Europe?
“Fortunately, there is also a very strong pro-Israeli and pro-Jewish prejudice, and prejudices fight it out through the media. There are anti-Semitic roots everywhere, even in America, but they are no longer important at a historical level, they are no longer influential.”
What political and diplomatic role, in your opinion, has Italy played in the Middle East?
“A very murky role. We need only think of certain facts regarding the secret services, or the policy of ENI.”
The Vatican wants to offer itself as a mediator.
“They are still furious in the Vatican about the mosque that Israel authorised in what is a holy site for the Christians. And do you remember Monsignor Capucci? He was found guilty of storing and transporting arms for the Palestinian fundamentalists.”
“To give the Palestinians their own state, dominated by ruthless dictatorial regimes like those of Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia, would mean adding insult to injury. The solution is to offer the Palestinians the same rights already enjoyed by the Israeli Arabs, and to allow Israel, the only democratic state in the Middle East, to join the European Union.”
In this interview with La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno, the MEP Marco Pannella outlines a proposal dear to the Transnational Radical Party. According to Pannella, Israeli membership of the European Union would be a solution to a tragedy that seems to have become inevitable, and would offer a real prospect of peace in the Middle East.
Only membership of the EU would make the borders of the small Jewish state more secure and allow it to make greater concessions in terms of territory. At that point the Palestinians, too, would understand that democracy is vitally important, while the path of terrorism is both hopeless and evil.
Is the proposal still valid, in your opinion, in the light of the latest developments?
“It is not only still valid: it is, in an increasingly clear and urgent manner, the only response to the current situation and to a future that is only too easy to foretell: a future of tragedy. There are many reasons that support the proposal - I will remind you only of the main one: it is ludicrous to expect the Israelis to maintain their characteristics as an ‘independent’ nation-state, and even more ludicrous, complete madness in fact, to give a State to millions of Palestinians oppressed by poverty, ignorance and a complete lack of human and civil rights.”
Are you thinking in terms of an Israeli-Palestinian Confederation associated to the European Union?
“To propose nation-states was conceivable in the context of the culture and the politics of the mid-nineteenth century. But the Treaty of Versailles after the First World War was already a failure because they thought it was possible to solve things by creating nation-states, and this was the root cause of the tragedy that ensued from the 1930s onwards.”
The Palestinians have been fighting to obtain their own sovereignty for forty years. Isn’t it now their right?
“The birth of the Palestinian State, as well as being a tragedy, because it would be closely linked to Syria, or to Iraq, or to Saudi Arabia, and therefore to an oligarchy totally extraneous to any modern democratic consciousness, would also threaten to undermine the foundations of the Jordanian monarchy. Millions of Palestinians live in Jordan, and it is the only Arab state in the region where there is still a glimmer of democracy. Let us not forget the threat of destabilisation, the fact that the fundamentalists have had a score to settle with King Hussein since the time of the ‘black September’. Try to imagine what might happen: ruthless repression, permanent war throughout the region, and obviously the end of the State of Israel.”
And yet it is precisely in this direction that the efforts of international diplomacy are moving: two states, Israel and Palestine.
“A state can only join the European Union if it respects all the civil, political and human rights contained in the various declarations of the UN and of the Council of Europe. If the Palestinians earned the same rights granted to Israeli Arabs, a democratic ‘bomb’ would strike Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. It would be the end of these regimes. It is unforgivably stupid and blind of us not to have seen this earlier.”
Have you not asked yourself whether the proposal is really practicable? Would France and Germany, for example, not be afraid of seeing their roles and powers diminished if they agreed to Israeli membership of the EU?
“The real obstacle is what Dahrendorf has already pointed to, the bureaucratic, or rather Christian-Social-bureaucratic character of the institutions and governments of Europe, whatever their political colour: in other words, a problem of resistance and inertia. In order to overcome this obstacle we need a campaign to gather public support.
Israel is weakened terribly by its PR voting system, its party coalitions, and its inability to introduce wide-reaching reforms. Although at the same time it is admirable because it has existed in a state of war for fifty years yet has somehow managed to maintain the essential characteristics of democracy.”
You will admit, at least, that your views on the issue are not easy to share?
“The problem is that neither the UN Charter nor European jurisprudence have ever placed the nation-state among the rights of the individual, and yet here we are offering it to the Palestinians as the solution for all their ills. Democracy and rights is what they really need.”
And what does Israel need?
“Israel represents 0.2% of the Middle East. In terms of size it is the equivalent of the eighth largest region in Italy. Just think what would happen if it made the concessions called for by the foolish pacifist movement, including the American pacifists. Every territory handed over in such a limited area becomes the most advanced post for the resumption of war and of the most catastrophic resolution of the current situation. But if Israel became the furthest outpost of the United Europe with its 400 million inhabitants, it could hand over everything, from Gaza to the West Bank, with nothing to be afraid of.”
Is there still a sort of anti-Jewish prejudice in Europe?
“Fortunately, there is also a very strong pro-Israeli and pro-Jewish prejudice, and prejudices fight it out through the media. There are anti-Semitic roots everywhere, even in America, but they are no longer important at a historical level, they are no longer influential.”
What political and diplomatic role, in your opinion, has Italy played in the Middle East?
“A very murky role. We need only think of certain facts regarding the secret services, or the policy of ENI.”
The Vatican wants to offer itself as a mediator.
“They are still furious in the Vatican about the mosque that Israel authorised in what is a holy site for the Christians. And do you remember Monsignor Capucci? He was found guilty of storing and transporting arms for the Palestinian fundamentalists.”
