Tuesday, November 29, 2005
As usual, the unwillingness to define "terrorism," or, more specifically, the refusal of the Palestinians and their Arab/Muslim allies to give up and exception for themselves from any such definition has resulted in the mooting of yet another international summit.
LA Times: European-Mediterranean Summit Ends With a Murmur
The two-day meeting convened delegations from 25 European nations, Israel and nine Muslim governments ringing the Mediterranean. Only two of the non-European invitees — Turkey and the Palestinian Authority — sent their top official.
The summit's inability to reach more meaningful agreement reflected the profound difficulties in bridging the gap between the two worlds that came together here.
Defining terrorism was the biggest hurdle. Arab countries wanted to exempt from condemnation resistance to "foreign occupation," a reference to the action of Palestinian militants. Israel and several European countries wanted an explicit statement that terrorism can never be justified by any cause. In the end, both sides had to drop their demands to salvage a statement at the last minute.
In the final document, delegates agreed to "condemn terrorism in all its manifestations" and to pledge their "determination to eradicate it," including through prevention of access to arms and money. But they did not go beyond that...
Proof positive that when you hear someone "condemn terrorism in all its manifestations" -- a favorite trope of groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations -- it means nothing. Absolutely nothing. They used it here as the only way to get an agreement on something no one could agree on, so they decided to say something that sounds credible to the completely credulous, but in actual fact is stripped of any substance.
Of, course, some will blame this problem -- and the fact that it would seem that something's coming between an agreement by Europe and the Arabs -- on, who else, Israel, rather than on the simple fact that the Palestinians and their Arab/Muslim allies support the worst activities of the Palestinian terror groups. They are addicted to it.
Of course, someone already did place such blame. Beware of open microphones:
Zapatero responded: "We must close this! Any way possible!"
There were some mixed signs in the post-mortem, however:
The absences suggest that Europe, long seen as a greater ally to the Muslim world than the pro-Israel U.S., might be losing some of its influence.
In other words, payoffs, not progress next time, s'il vous plait.
(via WorldwideStandard)
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