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A
Quiet Clash at the Swedish Foreign Ministry
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your friends to like this.
WT title: "Sweden's wishful
thinking on the Mideast: Naive notions about Iran and 'Palestine' smell
like nonsense"
Sweden is arguably the most "European" of European countries
by virtue of its historically cohesive nationhood ("one big
family"), militaristic and socialist legacies, untrammeled
immigration, unmatched political correctness, and a supercilious claim to
the status of a "moral superpower." These features also make it
perhaps the most alien of European countries to an American conservative.
In this context, I offer a summary and paraphrase of my discussion
with two senior members of the permanent bureaucracy in the Swedish Ministry
of Foreign Affairs (MFA) held during a recent visit to Stockholm. Our
affable but pointed discussion focused on the Middle East, on which we
agreed on almost nothing; I might as well have been in Sudan's or Syria's
MFA.
Arvfurstens
Palats, an eighteenth century royal palace occupied since 1906 by the
Swedish Foreign Ministry.
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The following contains the seemingly sober officials' more colorful
statements, then my responses. First, we discussed the Iranian nuclear
program:
1. The
IAEA inspection regime in Iran is the most intense ever mounted anywhere;
it includes cameras that watch the Iranian installations around the
clock, so we definitely know what's going on there.
My response: How does the Swedish MFA
know that those cameras cover every last nuclear installation? In fact,
neither Stockholm nor any other capital has any
idea what's going on. The Iranians' program could be far more
advanced than is known; indeed, Tehran could have even purchased nuclear
weapons from North Korea or Pakistan.
2. The
Islamic Republic of Iran abandoned its program to build nuclear bombs in
2003.
My response: The Iranian government,
as its president, Hassan Rouhani
himself has indicated, never for a moment stopped its nuclear program.
3. If
an outside power attacked the Iranian nuclear sites, this would
counterproductively cause Tehran to get really angry and decide to build
The Bomb.
My response: The notion that striking
the installations would inspire the Iranians to proceed is precisely
backward. Also, recall that both the Iraqi and Syrian nuclear programs
collapsed after being struck by Israeli jets.
Iran's
centrifuges, as shown by the government news agency.
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We also discussed the Arab-Israeli conflict in the context of the
Swedish government's very recent decision to recognize a state of
"Palestine":
1. This
move is aimed, I was told, not to punish Israel but to give heart to
those Palestinians despairing of the two-state solution, consisting of an
Israel next to a Palestine. As such, it is not hostile to Israel (where
government and population back the two-state solution) but hostile to
Hamas (which rejects this outcome).
My response: The Israeli government
and population reacted very negatively to the Swedish decision and will,
no doubt, be annoyed to learn that it was patronizingly intended for
their own good. Conversely, Hamas
has hailed this move and called on other governments to follow Stockholm,
in order to isolate Israel.
2. Israeli
"settlements" on the West Bank (which I prefer to call
"towns") render impossible the two-state solution, making it
urgently imperative to prevent their further expansion.
My response: I flip this around and
see Israeli building as constructive pressure on the Palestinians to get
serious about ending the conflict. The longer Palestinians procrastinate,
the less land remains.
3. The
many statements and posters in which Fatah
endorses "car jihad" are unimportant because Fatah is not
the official Palestinian "government." So, the Swedish MFA does
not concern itself with this homicidal incitement.
My response: Fatah, the PLO, ad the
Palestinian Authority are three names for the same entity. Making a
legalistic distinction among them permits Mahmoud Abbas, the head of all
three, to get away with murder.
4. The
demand that Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state is a trap for
Abbas, who cannot do so because of the many Arabs living within Israel.
My response: Not to accept Israel as
the Jewish state means rejecting the entire Zionist enterprise. Nor is
this demand a trap; rather, it responds to changes on the Israeli Arab
side in 2006. Why else would Ehud
Olmert, then Israel's prime minister – who displayed a Swedish-like
fervor for an accord with Abbas – have initiated this demand?
Fatah endorsed
Palestinian car jihad in a cartoon showing an Aqsa-like car and the
words "The killing of Israelis by running-over operations in
Jerusalem."
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This complete disagreement on facts, interpretations, and predictions
points to an enormous and ever-widening gap between countries and
governments founded on like values. At a time when the ranks of enemies
are proliferating, that those who should be realistic and friendly prefer
instead fumes of fantasy leaves me discouraged about the future of
Europe. What disaster will it take to awaken the Swedes -- starting with
their estimable foreign policy functionaries?
Mr. Pipes (DanielPipes.org)
is president of the Middle East Forum. © 2014 by Daniel Pipes. All
rights reserved.
Related
Topics: Arab-Israel conflict &
diplomacy, Iran This
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