Interessanter Artikel zum Verhältnis Israel-EU
Geschrieben von IT Oma am 12. Dezember 2002 11:28:03:
w w w . h a a r e t z d a i l y . c o m
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Israel? In the EU?
BRUSSELS - High-ranking officials in the European Commission, which last week hosted a delegation of journalists from Israel, are having a hard time recovering from Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's declaration that Israel is interested in membership in the EU. "Is he serious?" they said, over and over.The proposal - from which the Foreign Ministry subsequently withdrew - may have been received with incredulity in Brussels, but the doubt was quickly replaced by concern that Israel might take up the idea with Germany, its main ally in the EU and the prime mover for the Union's enlargement. The Germans, who favor the addition of Turkey to the Union - an idea that makes many leaders of EU member states shudder - could not refuse an official request from Israel to work for its inclusion to Europe; such a move would drive a wedge into the enlargement project, setting it back by several years.
The leaders of the Commission only breathed a sigh of relief when they realized the Foreign Ministry staff was in no rush to take any bold steps, and that the statement was evidently meant to serve domestic political purposes, as was also made clear to the Commission by high-ranking diplomats in Israel.
The truth is that along with realization of a dream of "joining Europe," membership in the EU could also incur what Israel might consider a very steep price. Israel would have to nullify the Law of Return - EU legislation stipulates that all citizens living within its boundaries are free to settle and work without restriction in all of its member states - and all of the laws that discriminate favorably toward Jews. Israel would be required to unilaterally adopt all sections of the European legislation, and the European Convention of Human Rights. In so doing, it would all at once become a "state of all its citizens."
Israel would also be required to make a series of structural changes to its economy, to comply with the rigid criteria of the Maastricht Treaty. Joining the European Monetary Union - another prerequisite for joining the EU - would place it in a pillory of fiscal and monetary constraints over which it has nearly no control or maneuverability, such as the determination of interest rates (an authority now given to the European Central Bank). Additionally, Israel would be required to make harsh concessions in its defense and trade agreements with the U.S.
The September 11 terrorist attacks reignited the argument over whether the EU is a members-only club of Christian countries that provides a barricade to the spread of Islam, or a supra-national framework that sanctifies freedom and rights of the individual. Israel does not naturally conform with either of these models.
The gaps between Israel and Europe are also reflected in the perception of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The EU does not believe that the policies of the Israeli government - according to which, in the absence of any diplomatic horizon or credible Palestinian leadership, the conflict with the Palestinians will only be decided by a prolonged struggle that is based on military strength, determination and steadfastness - will ever bring peace and stability to the region.
Israel is viewed by widespread population groups in Europe as a racist colonial brute, light years distant from the enlightened "New Europe." The attitude is based on an unofficial assessment of the situation according to which Israel is waiting for the propitious moment to carry out a transfer of the Palestinian population - for example, under the cover of the war in Iraq - and that the EU must take strong action to foil this intention.
Senior EU officials believe that beneath the conciliatory and pragmatic exterior, Ariel Sharon is not interested in the establishment of a Palestinian state west of the Jordan, and that he is seeking - with the quiet support of the Americans and the energetic encouragement of the Israeli army - to make the Palestinians' lives loathsome, by means of intentional destruction of property and infrastructure that were built with funds donated by the European taxpayer.
The Europeans are afraid that Israel is waiting for a major stumble by the Palestinians - for instance, an expression of support for the Iraqi regime in the instance of a war with the U.S. - in order to pave the way for a sweeping action that would go unnoticed by the West. Even if this assessment is unfounded, the fact that it exists is itself evidence that Israel's moral status is at an all-time nadir.
In European eyes, under the leadership of Sharon, Netanyahu and their colleagues, Israel is capable of carrying out ethnic cleansing, meaning that it is not worthy of inclusion in the European Union. So long as this perception is rooted in the institutions of the EU - which openly yearns for the Labor Party's recapture of the government - the dream of joining the European club will remain in the realm of fantasy.
By Sharon Sadeh
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