Whilst the world's attention is firmly fixed on the looming war with Iraq, the coverage on the continuing Israel-Palestine crisis has somewhat slipped out of the public consciousness. At the same time, it is a well established fact that the entire political balance of the Middle East is dominated by the Israel-Palestine question and that the future of this region depends on a political solution that will stabilize the region. The stakes are high, the prospects are daunting and the outcome will be crucial either way.

Several articles recently published by Eurozine and some of our partners focus on different aspects of the Israel-Palestine question. Each article presents a piece of the complex, intertwined and politically charged questions that surround the future of Israel and Palestine. The themes addressed here - Israel's questionable occupation policies, its ever-expanding security needs as well as the issue of Muslim anti-Semitism - in the Arab world and in Europe - are addressed from different angles and expose how embedded and also fraught Israel's relations not only to the Arab world and America but also to Europe actually are.

Three of the articles deal with different aspects of anti-Semitism. Lothar Baier looks at how anti-Semitism in Europe - especially in France and Germany has become distorted and blown out of proportion by all sides of the political spectrum. The so-called "new anti-Semitism" should have been approached with the upmost of caution, but instead the media coverage has become hysterical and vulgarized argues Baier. He lays bare how anti-Semitic incidents in France - which have been perpetrated almost without exception by disaffected Muslim immigrant youth - are also the result of serious disenfrachisement and ghettoization that these youths experience in France.

Muslim anti-Semitism is also the topic of Harold Evans' article "The Voice of Hate". The sheer hatred that most Muslims feel towards Jews, is according to Evans "frenzied, vociferous, paranoid [...] and only incidentally connected to the Palestinian conflict". Anti-Semitism on this scale, he argues, equals a form of religious fanaticism that is being fostered by lies and smear campaigns spread over the Internet and irresponsible media channels. Hate on this scale is not explicable in the parameters of reason and rationale - and yet exactly this sheer virulence of hate will make the peace process all but impossible, Evans fears.

The Swedish intellectual Göran Rosenberg agrees with Evans - up to a point. He too believes that anti-Semitism is "built upon abstract fantasies and constructions of Jews, not on what real Jews think or say or do." However, Rosenberg takes the argument further by pointing out that Isreal should nonetheless stop justifying its military policies on the grounds that they are the helpless victims of persistent anti-Semitism. To put it bluntly: The very real political conflict between Israel and Palestine should not be instrumentalized through slippery and dangerous accusations and counteraccusations of anti-Semitism. Instead, the problem of Israel's political and military operations in the occupied territories must be confronted head-on.

In the text "The EU is sponsoring Israel's occupation", Mikael Löfgren looks at Israel's occupation policies and its repercussions in the EU and in America in a text which looks further at the absurd and uncoordinated system by which international aid money is allocated in this conflict: Whilst America pays for the sophisticated weaponry of the Israeli army that destroys Palestinian infrastructure and agriculture, the European Union and other donor countries continue to pump aid in the form of money and through NGOs to support allegedly "peaceful development in the region, and [...] the establishment of a democratic Palestinian society based on the rule of law." This public commitment to the creation of a viable Palestinian state however is undermined by the fact that the money is mostly used for emergency aid: Alleviating the worst damages that the Israeli army inflicts upon the occupied territories. Löfgren concludes that "international development cooperation has been turned into occupation sponsoring."

Finally, Peter Lagerquist looks at the question of the occupied territories from a different angle: The questionable practices of private security which operate almost indistinguishable from the Israeli army. Their reputation for excellence and efficiency makes them strong contenders for big, lucrative contracts abroad in the ever growing market for private security firms. But what are the political and legal implications of their participation in the "colonial conquest" of the occupied territories, and to whom - if anyone - are they answerable to?

While anti-Semitism, as Evans suggests, might indeed present a case where the explosive mixture of religion and politics unleash unpredictable and irrational forces, these articles demonstrate convincingly that this does not exonerate any of the actors from their responsibility in this conflict - neither Israel and Palestine nor America and Europe.

Eurozine ed.

All articles now available in Eurozine:

Lothar Baier
New anti-Semitism and old delusions (en) (de)
A new wave of anti-Semitism is gripping Europe, especially Germany and France. Is this a serious threat however, or largely unfounded hysteria?

Harold Evans
The voice of hate (en)
Virulent anti-Semitism permeates all levels of Muslim society. Insidiously propagated by school text books as well as by the Arab media, it threatens any hope of an enduring peace in the Middle East.

Peter Lagerquist
Private security, colonial wars (en) (de)
Almost everywhere in the world, private security firms have been booming in the past decade. Especially in Israel, various medium-sized and smaller businesses have seen a steep rise in demand since the beginning of the second intifada. Their experience and unequalled reputation have turned the security-market into a lucrative export business.

Mikael Löfgren
The EU is sponsoring Israel's occupation (en) (sv)
International aid that was originally intended to contribute to peaceful development in the Middle-East and to the establishment of a democratic Palestinian state built on the rule of law is now being used instead to finance emergency aid. According to international law, the occupying Israeli forces should pay for this, writes Mikael Löfgren.

Göran Rosenberg
Anti-Semitism: Real and Imagined Threats (de) (sv)
Göran Rosenberg argues that anti-Semitic fantasies are not related to what real Jews say or do; and yet, the Israeli army seems to legitimize its occupation policy on the grounds that Israel is the victim of virulent and persistent anti-Semitism.

Published 2003-02-12