EDITORIAL
from issue no. 08 - 2006
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More futile slaughters
The tradition of the Italian foreign policy in the post-war period refuses to view the Middle East conflict as a clash between angels and devils. It is a matter of two people that are desperately seeking – whether they say so or not – a way of coming together, that in the end can't help but come about. Then in what bleakness will the count of all the futile slaughter be made
Giulio Andreotti
Just before the Senate’s summer recess we dealt
with two very important matters, one of foreign policy and one of domestic
policy. I shall discuss the latter – the amnesty – in
September.
The Palestinian question is once again the center of
general concern. The possibility has been suggested of sending a force to
stand between Lebanon and Israel to bring about a ceasefire while awaiting
solutions to the conflict. In truth, there seems to me something
simple-minded in this, because is not a matter of a so-to-speak classical
conflict between two States and people continue to close their eyes towards
the central point, which is the tragedy of the Palestinians crowded for
half a century into Lebanese territory without a sign of any corrective to
their dreadful status quo being launched. Maybe there are those who are
exploiting this tragedy so as to trouble the waters; but it is also true
that without a plan to support this disinherited throng
– until lately estimated at half a million, but now on
the way to almost double that – not only will specific hostilities
not cease, but those Palestinians in other areas who still want to believe
in negotiated solutions will be left without valid arguments.
In the recent meeting in Rome the secretary general of the United Nations Kofi Annan seemed almost resigned, faced as he was by the unyielding Palestinian demand for a “just return”.
What solutions might instead be looked at? First of all a check to see whether it’s possible to find areas willing to accept the assisted settlement of Palestinians.
As a partial connection, I recalled the fact that the
first location decided upon by Herzl, the founder of Zionism, in his scheme
for the building of a Jewish State was in Uganda. The suggestion may have
come from the British, concerned not to lose power in Palestine, but after
Herzl’s death there was no more talk of it, all the efforts were
concentrated on Jerusalem and the surrounding territory.
The events of the Second World War and the acts of violence engaged in by the Israelitess induced London to yield. I remember the surprise when minister Sforza communicated the news given him by Bevin.
Italy was not yet in the UN (they admitted us only in 1955) and we were not kept up to date on what was being decided in New York. It is not baseless to claim that the simultaneous decision on the birth of the State of Israel and of the Arab State (the latter not defined in an unequivocal way) was hasty and perhaps, as things were, rash. Certainly the Palestinians, with their ill-considered adversarial reactions to Israel, created a tangle of events from which it is still hard to see how it might be untangled.
I have several times taken part in ad hoc talks, including two triangular meetings with former Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian fighters. The anxiety to find the terms of a solution is widespread, but mistrust and confusion still prevail.
Sharon himself, certainly not to be suspected of being pro-Palestinian, stirred great hopes with his bold decisions on the Gaza settlers, but at the same time he defended the plan for the “wall” that is difficult to distinguish from the negative memories of the ghettos.
In recent weeks the names of cities dear to us in the Christian tradition, such as Nazareth and Cana, have several times appeared in the news.
The city of Our Lady, that was the site of heavy clashes some years ago, also with the occupation of the Basilica, has now been the target of slaughterous shelling. In its turn, Cana – the city of the first sweet miracle of Jesus out of his affection for young newly-weds – has suffered bombing in which the Slaughter of the Innocents was repeated.
The tradition of the Italian foreign policy in the post-war period refuses to view the Middle East conflict as a clash between angels and devils. It is a matter of two people that are desperately seeking – whether they say so or not – a way of coming together, that in the end can’t help but come about. Only then will the count of all the futile slaughters be made in bleakness.
The crater made by a rocket launched by the Hezbollah at the city of Nazareth, 19 July 2006
In the recent meeting in Rome the secretary general of the United Nations Kofi Annan seemed almost resigned, faced as he was by the unyielding Palestinian demand for a “just return”.
What solutions might instead be looked at? First of all a check to see whether it’s possible to find areas willing to accept the assisted settlement of Palestinians.
One of the victims of the slaughter in Cana where an Israeli missile destroyed a whole building causing the death of sixty people, of whom thirty-seven were children, 30 July 2006
The events of the Second World War and the acts of violence engaged in by the Israelitess induced London to yield. I remember the surprise when minister Sforza communicated the news given him by Bevin.
Italy was not yet in the UN (they admitted us only in 1955) and we were not kept up to date on what was being decided in New York. It is not baseless to claim that the simultaneous decision on the birth of the State of Israel and of the Arab State (the latter not defined in an unequivocal way) was hasty and perhaps, as things were, rash. Certainly the Palestinians, with their ill-considered adversarial reactions to Israel, created a tangle of events from which it is still hard to see how it might be untangled.
I have several times taken part in ad hoc talks, including two triangular meetings with former Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian fighters. The anxiety to find the terms of a solution is widespread, but mistrust and confusion still prevail.
Sharon himself, certainly not to be suspected of being pro-Palestinian, stirred great hopes with his bold decisions on the Gaza settlers, but at the same time he defended the plan for the “wall” that is difficult to distinguish from the negative memories of the ghettos.
In recent weeks the names of cities dear to us in the Christian tradition, such as Nazareth and Cana, have several times appeared in the news.
The city of Our Lady, that was the site of heavy clashes some years ago, also with the occupation of the Basilica, has now been the target of slaughterous shelling. In its turn, Cana – the city of the first sweet miracle of Jesus out of his affection for young newly-weds – has suffered bombing in which the Slaughter of the Innocents was repeated.
The tradition of the Italian foreign policy in the post-war period refuses to view the Middle East conflict as a clash between angels and devils. It is a matter of two people that are desperately seeking – whether they say so or not – a way of coming together, that in the end can’t help but come about. Only then will the count of all the futile slaughters be made in bleakness.
