[Interview] ‘EU has no interest in peace,’ ex-Palestinian envoy to EU says

Since 7 October, her stance is, nonetheless, perceived as extra radical than ever. Particularly as she refused to sentence Hamas straight after the assault.

“I have never modified in any respect,” she informed EUobserver after the convention. “I’m nonetheless advocating for my folks. I’ve, nonetheless, deserted diplomacy in each sense.”

Shahid has been advocating for the Palestinian trigger since her youth; within the Nineteen Seventies she joined Fatah, based by Yasser Arafat and one of many main political factions throughout the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). She has since then represented Palestine within the Netherlands, Denmark, France and, in the end, from 2005 to 2010, within the European Union.

“I left diplomacy behind as a result of I could not betray my folks anymore. The EU diplomats and the EU, basically, have little interest in peace within the Center East. There are some exceptions, just like the Scandinavian international locations, however all in all: the EU is barely keen on their very own industrial pursuits,” Shahid informed EUobserver.

She mentioned she believes that Europe is trapped by guilt for what they did, or what they let occur, to the Jews throughout World Battle II.

“Could I remind you that it was not the Arabs who dedicated these horrendous crimes to humanity, however the Europeans. And that guilt, I consider, it appears is blinding Europe for the crimes that Israel — not the Jews, thoughts you — is committing as we converse,” Leila Shahid mentioned.

Shahid was near Arafat through the years. First, as Palestine’s consultant to the Netherlands and Denmark, then to France, and between delegate to the European Union. In 2004, she sat by Arafat’s deathbed in Paris.

In response to Shahid, the continued warfare can’t be placed on Hamas’s shoulders alone. She nonetheless refuses to sentence the organisation straight.

“I’m no Islamist, I do not help Hamas and their ideology, however I refuse to simply accept the narrative that the warfare began on 7 October,” Shahid mentioned.

She mentioned that nothing can ever justify the killing of civilians, whether or not they’re Palestinian or Israeli, however that she believes it to be the worth to pay for not resolving the battle.

“As a human being, I mourn all kids and civilians killed, Israeli civilians but additionally the 1000’s of Palestinian victims which can be changing Gaza right into a graveyard. These are victims that European politicians are likely to overlook about,” she mentioned.

“For 56 years the worldwide group, together with the EU and the UN, has been speaking about the suitable to self-determination. But, right here we’re, 30 years after the Oslo Accords, and the scenario is worse than ever. It is vitally short-sighted to consider that this began a month in the past,” she added.

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Shahid informed EUobserver that she had already been deceived by the European Union earlier than the newest warfare in Gaza.

“The European Union has been depoliticised. Few member states desire a political union, which is why the mission has grow to be a technical enterprise mission,” Shahid mentioned.

She claims that the Europeans have confirmed to be extra within the commerce markets, like those in Africa or the Arab world, and due to this fact refuse a standard political place in worldwide conflicts.

“That was the case with Ukraine after 2014, earlier than 2022, and that has lengthy been the case relating to Palestine. I left my place [as a Palestinian ambassador] to the EU so as to not betray my folks, as I consider the EU continues to be doing in the present day,” Leila Shahid mentioned.

When requested about whether or not it contradicts the Palestinian trigger for Palestinian representatives, similar to herself, to not condemn Hamas, she expressed a transparent stance.

“I’ve no downside condemning violence towards civilians, however I would like the worldwide group to acknowledge and condemn the 1000’s of Palestinian victims, not solely in Gaza however on the West Financial institution and in Japanese Jerusalem, the place Hamas is absent,” she mentioned. “This violence did not begin a month in the past and Europeans have to look themselves within the mirror.”

Insisting on the 56 years of violence towards Palestinians, she additionally admits her personal failures.

“I did not succeed, in enterprise, we’re farther from peace than ever,” she mentioned.

“Nonetheless, the EU wants to try Israel’s politics, [Benjamin] Netanyahu, and earlier than him a number of others, [who] have actively labored towards peace. From January this yr he’s forming a authorities with, for instance, extremist Itamat Ben-Gvir, convicted of supporting terrorism towards Palestinians,” Shahid identified.