Haaretz
Elul 1, 5766
ROME -
If the planned multinational force in Lebanon succeeds, it might be
possible to create a similar force for the Gaza Strip, Italian Foreign
Minister Massimo D'Alema said in an interview with Haaretz.
D'Alema said that America's aggressive approach to the Middle
East, which Israel shares, has failed, and has caused serious damage. Now,
he said, Italy and Europe must prove to Israelis that only international
intervention can bring them security.
D'Alema is considered the
driving force behind Italy's decision to contribute 3,000 soldiers to a
beefed-up UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), thereby making it the
largest western contributor to the force.
But the Italian foreign
minister, who met with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in Rome on Thursday,
said that the multinational force can only help the government of Lebanon
to disarm Hezbollah. This matter "essentially depends" solely on the
government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, he said, and will certainly
not be done through force.
He also claimed that it would be
"simplistic" to describe Hezbollah solely as a terrorist organization.
"Were Hezbollah merely a small terrorist group, it would not enjoy the
support of so many Lebanese," he said. "Even Tzipi Livni says that if
Hezbollah becomes a political organization, this will be a success, and I
agree with her."
D'Alema is president of the Democrats of the
Left, and was also a senior figure in the party's earlier incarnation as
the Communist Party. Many on the Italian right and in Italy's Jewish
community view the party as hostile to Israel, particularly in view of the
great support that Israel received from former prime minister Silvio
Berlusconi.
The Italian foreign minister's views are clearly not
supportive of the Israeli government. Nevertheless, he expressed concern
for Israel during the interview.
"We are sending our soldiers to
Lebanon and endangering their lives out of love for Israel. We have no
interests in Lebanon; this is supposed to be a step that creates peace.
And that is in Israel's interest," D'Alema said.
D'Alema said that
it is still unclear whether Italy will head the bolstered UNIFIL, but it
is already clear that it will be a leading contributor with its 3,000
soldiers. The decision to deploy the force enjoys overwhelming support
among the Italian public, and in the parliamentary Foreign Affairs
Committee, it won across-the-board support.
Analysts explain that
the Italians are pleased with the fact that D'Alema has managed to turn
Italy into a central player in the international arena.
"Moreover,
we're taking about involvement in Lebanon, which is nearby. This is not
Afghanistan, which is so far away that no one understands what we are
doing there," an official in the Italian Foreign Ministry explained.
Nonetheless, D'Alema is trying to make sure that Italy is not
alone in Lebanon. At an emergency European Union meeting in Brussels
today, D'Alema hopes a decision will be made to add at least 5,000
European troops to UNIFIL. On this point, Italy's hopes are shared by
Israel.
Analysts say D'Alema understood the United States cannot
mediate in Lebanon. The French are hesitant, the British are considered
too pro-American, and the Germans do not want to get involved in a
delicate situation. He is therefore pushing for Italy to take advantage of
the vacuum.
What, in your view, would be considered a success
for the multinational force in Lebanon?
"Success would be the
active presence of international and European diplomacy in the region, a
presence that has been missing for many years. Europe has not counted for
too much in the Middle East, and Israel has always related to it
suspiciously. The Arabs thought that Europe hands out money, but for the
important things, one must turn to the Americans. If, with the assistance
of a UN and European presence, a positive process begins in Lebanon - the
country is stabilized and the fundamentalist threat is removed from
Israel's borders - that will show people in Israel that the international
community can be efficient, that Europe can be efficient. Such a process
would prove to Israel that it can ensure its security better through the
politics of peace than through war. The main problem is that in Israeli
politics, peace and security are two different, often contradictory
things."
And the current crisis proved, in your view, that the
U.S. on its own cannot guarantee such security?
"This is
obvious to me. The American policy, which Israel also supported, created
an impossible situation. Just a few years ago, they foretold the demise of
the UN. I recall that on the day Baghdad fell, Richard Perle wrote that
along with Baghdad, the UN also fell. The thinking was that it is possible
to control the world via the power of a hegemonic liberal power. This
philosophy has created serious damage, and now the U.S. is looking for a
logical way out."
D'Alema disagrees with Israel's description of
Hezbollah as a terrorist organization: "An organization that has 35
members of parliament and three ministers cannot be described solely as a
terrorist group. Hezbollah is not considered a terrorist group by the
European Union, nor in my personal view. Hezbollah is a military
organization, but also a force that participates in elections. The paradox
is that we support Siniora, a democratic leader, and Siniora lauds
Hezbollah as the defender of the Lebanese homeland. It is important to
understand the complexity of the situation, because if you have a
simplistic view of the enemy, you deal with him incorrectly."
Does this mean that UNIFIL and the Italian soldiers will not
attempt to disarm Hezbollah?
"This essentially depends on the
Lebanese. If the government of Lebanon wants to, it is certainly possible,
and we must encourage the government of Lebanon. We cannot act against the
will of the Lebanese government. Hezbollah's disarmament is not only
Israel's demand, it is also Lebanon's, because a democratic country cannot
be sovereign if it does not have a monopoly over the army."
There was talk in the past about deploying a multinational
force to the Gaza Strip as well.
"The idea of sending UN
troops to the Gaza Strip is currently being aired. But I think that if
things go well in Lebanon, a similar positive process could also begin in
the Gaza Strip: the release of [kidnapped soldier Gilad] Shalit, a
Palestinian unity government that meets the criteria set by the
international community, and the presence of a UN force to bolster the
Palestinian government."