The idea that Western Europe is an oasis of liberalism is fast becoming a convenient myth. Anti-immigration, anti-diversity and anti-difference is gaining political support across the continent, including in once-moderate Scandinavia.
Even here in Holland, the government seems to misunderstand the ways in which peace will be reached between Israel and the Palestinians (as if the US way of divide and conquer creates anything other than chaos):
The Netherlands turned back a Palestinian minister with the Islamist movement Hamas on Friday who was headed for a conference on refugees, the minister said.
Speaking to Arab news channel Al-Jazeera from his plane, sports and youth minister Bassem Naim said he was stopped at Brussels airport where he was to have made a stopover and told his Netherlands visa had been revoked.
Belgian police told him that the justice ministry in the Netherlands had cancelled the entry visa on the grounds that he was “dangerous for the security of the Dutch people”, the minister said.
Since the formation of a unity government in March between Hamas, which is branded a terrorist group in the EU and United States, and the mainstream Fatah party, some countries have restored contacts but only with non-Hamas ministers.
In the West Bank political capital of Ramallah, information minister Mustafa Barghouti said: “We are surprised by this decision and we expect the Netherlands to take a balanced stand between Israel and the Palestinians.”
Israel is itself in political chaos (as opposed to usual?), and in no position to seriously consider any peace offers. As I have argued many times before, internal Palestinian strife and a failure to end the occupation is actually what the US and Israeli elites want. It’s good for business.
Perhaps somebody read the Hamas Charter?
Or perhaps someone can remind us what Dov Weisglass said about Sharon’s policy of putting the peace process into formaldehyde?
Wow Antony, you really are getting around the world, USA, Cuba now the Netherlands. I’ll be very interested to hear about your observations and views on the global political scene.
It is time for the Palestinians to move out of denial and have a good long, honest, hard look at themselves to work out why the rest of the world is ignoring them. Western extreme leftists who keep feeding the Pals bullshit are not helping these poor people one bit.
Really scary to think that anyone would claim Bush is intelligent isn’t it?
Viva, will you grow up and Carrie, suff the Hamas Charter.
That is a piece of paper, the reality on the ground is that Israel is committing slow genocide on the owners of the land and they just don’t care.
Snipers shoot little girls in the head and think it is sport, women die giving birth at checkpoints and I finally got hold of Pilger’s film from 2002 “Palestine is still the issue” – I strongly advise you to find a copy which is available now on DVD and have a good look at it.
The film from the archives alone are appalling.
Marilyn
Saying that the Hamas charter doesn’t matter is counterproductive. It is a document viewed by governments around the world and it ought to be written carefully.
You say that Israel is committing genocide on the ‘owners of the land’. I think this type of labelling is damaging and problematic. Nobody owns the earth, we are all caretakers and we ought to be sharing it. Your claim that it belongs to the Arabs instead of the Jews is an attitude as bad as the current occupation. You simply cannot argue that the Arabs own the land, just as you cannot argue the Jews own it
If that is your argument then why are you residing in Australia on Aboriginal land?
It seems the French are starting to wake up as well. Tragically, it is probably too late for France.