How the Foreign Office sees Israel
A leaked document from the British Foreign Office shows clearly the pro-Arab leanings and anti-Israeli stance that we have come to expect from that particular branch of Her Majesty’s Government. Appropriately enough, it was leaked to The Guardian:
A confidential Foreign Office document accuses Israel of rushing to annex the Arab area of Jerusalem, using illegal Jewish settlement construction and the vast West Bank barrier, in a move to prevent it becoming a Palestinian capital.
In an unusually frank insight into British assessments of Israeli intentions, the document says that Ariel Sharon’s government is jeopardising the prospect of a peace agreement by trying to put the future of Arab East Jerusalem beyond negotiation and risks driving Palestinians living in the city into radical groups. The document, obtained by the Guardian, was presented to an EU council of ministers meeting chaired by the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, on Monday with recommendations to counter the Israeli policy, including recognition of Palestinian political activities in East Jerusalem.
But the council put the issue on hold until next month under pressure from Italy, according to sources, which Israel considers its most reliable EU ally.
International law is in the eye of the beholder, of course, and it is no surprise that the Foreign Office buys every argument of the Arab world on this issue. The document also exposes the world view of the Foreign Office that anything other than appeasement and surrender risks “driving Palestinians… into radical groups”. Such assumptions have been at the heart of Britain’s foreign policy failures for much of the past century.
As for the “frank insight” claimed by the Guardian, the site Democracy for the Middle East comments:
Excuse us, but Britain’s foreign office hasn’t had a “frank insight” about the Arabs since the first World War.
Quite.
