'Bloody Balfour' and his Legacy

In 1919, two years after his Declaration offering European Jews a "national home" in Palestine, British foreign secretary Arthur Balfour asserted that "Zionism... is rooted in age-long tradition, in present needs, in future hopes, of far profounder import than the desires and prejudices of the 700,000 Arabs who now inhabit that ancient land..."

Almost 90 years later, the West unconditionally backs the lawless Israeli state that has emerged from Balfour's machinations, while disregarding "the desires and prejudices" of the entire Islamic world. This racist stance negates the self-image of the West as a model of respect for human and political rights.

The EU's decision to withdraw funding from the Palestinian government lays to rest the illusion that Europe, unlike the USA, is an advocate of "soft power". The Palestinians are being punished for electing Hamas in what was the first exemplary democratic legislative election in the Arab world, and are being starved into revisiting their choice.

A precedent is the cancellation of the 1991 elections in Algeria, when it seemed that the Islamic Salvation Front would win. This coup d'état was welcomed in the West, and the subsequent 100,000 fatalities were deemed an acceptable price to pay for excluding Islamists from power. With intensified Israeli bombing of the Gaza strip bringing attendant civilian fatalities, and with the latest suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, we have seen the beginnings of a new cycle of slaughter which European governments clearly view as an acceptable price to pay for the maintenance of Israel's illegal occupation of Palestinian territories.

Another precedent is the massive campaign of blackmail with which the USA coerced the Nicaraguans into voting for Violeta Chamorro in the 1990 elections. When the Nicaraguans reluctantly obeyed, the Americans hailed the result as a rejection of the Sandinistas' middle-of-the-road socialism rather than as a last-ditch defence against Contra-imposed brutalisation and starvation.

At the time there was much disapproval in European capitals; now, however, Europeans and Americans are on the same side. This exposes the symbiotic nature of the proverbial "good cop/bad cop" relationship between these powers, particularly in the Middle East, and disposes of any fantasies that EU foreign policy is independent of that of the global hegemon.

Hamas's crimes are its refusals to "recognise" the state of Israel, to abide by agreements signed by previous Palestinian regimes, such as the so-called Road Map, and to reject violence. That the state of Israel has never recognised the Palestinian people's national rights, that it recognises no laws other than those which it passes in order to legitimise its own crimes, that it has never either complied with the Oslo accords or accepted the Road Map: these factors have never induced the West to withhold support for it, nor to cease heaping it with praise for being "the only democracy in the Middle East".

Israel benefits from trading privileges under the Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreement, conditional on its observance of a human rights clause. The European Parliament has twice voted for the suspension of the Agreement consequent upon Israel's violation of this clause, yet these votes have been ignored. The International Court of Justice's Advisory Opinion of July 2004, demanding that Israel dismantle its Separation Wall and calling upon all states "not to recognise the illegal situation resulting from the construction of the Wall..." has similarly been ignored.

If neither the European Parliament nor the world's highest legal institution can influence the EU to distance itself from Israel; if loyalty to the US can trump respect for the Palestinian people's democratic choice and for European public opinion (in 2003 a poll revealed that 59% of Europeans consider that Israel constitutes the greatest threat to world peace), then what are we to conclude about the EU's respect for democracy?

Recently a procession of antiquated military hardware rolled past Dublin's GPO in celebration of the 90th anniversary of the 1916 Rising. While the debate provoked by this extravaganza revealed a nation rancorously split on the interpretation of its own history, Palestine is one subject on which Irish citizens and parliamentarians of every stripe are united. Recent Dáil speeches from the unlikeliest sources were united in defending the right of the Palestinians to elect whomsoever they choose and in rejecting the possibility of punishing them for that choice. Nonetheless, this is precisely the course of action upon which the EU has embarked, with the craven acquiescence of our Government. Once again the issue of Palestine exposes the spuriousness of our sovereignty, the vacuity of our democracy, and the comprehensiveness of our enslavement to transatlantic hegemony.

Arthur Balfour, who was known as "Bloody Balfour" for the ruthlessness of his opposition to Irish home rule, has left a shameful legacy. It is time to tell our Government that it has no mandate to help administer that legacy.

Raymond Deane is a composer and a founding member of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign