For a Special Relationship with the Palestinians

Aref Hajjaj takes a look at the difficult German-Palestinian relations and argues that Germany should take on a more active role in the Middle East peace process.

A "special" relationship exists between Germany and the state of Israel, which can be attributed to National Socialism and its persecution of Jews. In principle, a "special" relationship also exists between Germany and the still non-formed state of Palestine.

Whereas bilateral relations between two states are freely determined and guided despite the existing regional and international interdependence of each, the case is somewhat different with German-Palestinian relations. Here the external factor is not only invariably present, it also significantly shapes this relationship.

Once again, Palestine is nearly completely occupied by Israel and is fully subject to its military, economic and territorial control. This problematizes Germany's political relations with Palestine and makes it more difficult than Germany's relations with other countries.

Accusing the Palestinians of "pessimistic" thinking

For instance, despite the dramatic events of Rafah in the Gaza Strip and the meanwhile nearly constructed "security fence," German Foreign Minister Fischer declared at an event at the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Berlin on 25 May that the "Roadmap" (the Near East peace initiative from the quartet USA, EU, UNO and Russia) was still viable and accused the Palestinians of "pessimistic" thinking in this context.

For some time now, German politics has performed a balancing act, striving to take into account the uniqueness of Germany's relationship with Israel while playing a moral, political and economic role vis-à-vis the Palestinians that is commensurate to Germany's place in the world.

The largest contributor to the Palestinian territories

Whereas Near Eastern policy under the German chancellors Adenauer and Erhard was primarily guided by Germany's "moral obligation" to the Jewish state, it has since become increasingly more balanced and discriminating.

To be sure, it has so far never abandoned its preferential treatment of Israeli positions and interests. At the same time, Germany is the largest contributor to the Palestinian territories, not only within the EU but also worldwide.

Alone in the period 1994-1998, the Palestinian authorities received € 1.5 billion from the EU, of which 25% came from Germany. Additional German sums have poured in within the framework of bilateral and humanitarian programs.

The "Palestinians," as far as it is possible to lump them all together, have always mistrusted Germany's foreign policy stances towards Israel. They see the former power center of Bonn as a supporter of Zionism and neocolonialism.

Of course, Palestinians have appreciatively acknowledged the new emphases in German Near Eastern politics since the Schmidt/Genscher era as an effort to assess the conflict in the Near East in a more balanced manner.

"Terrorism" and "retaliatory strikes"

Nevertheless, they complain about what they see as a continued preference of Israel in this conflict. Many of them bitterly registered the fact that even the present German foreign minister, Joschka Fischer, who has worked hard for a lasting settlement to Palestinian-Israeli conflict, often condemns the "terrorism" of the Palestinians in evaluating the spiraling violence on both sides, whereas in the case of Israel he uses the relativizing and almost trivializing term of "retaliatory strikes."

This linguistic usage betrays a high degree of bias. Many Palestinians would have regarded it as a sign of balance and fairness if Fischer had not relativized the Israeli violent measures against the Palestinians along with his legitimate condemnation of Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians, but had called them what they really are:

After all, the killing of uninvolved civilians or the intended liquidation of even potential Palestinian assassins by Israel has been defined and condemned by many independent international observers, in fact, by the majority of the world community, as a violation of international law and as a form of state terrorism.

Certainly misunderstandings and misjudgments exist not only on one side. Many a politician and journalist in Germany has often complained with justification that many Palestinians (and not only they) are attempting to marginalize an event of such far-reaching consequences as the Holocaust. However, what is meant here is not generally just another variant of the "Auschwitz lie."

Rather, the Palestinian side frequently criticizes that after so many decades these events wrongly continue to significantly influence the relationship between Germany on the one hand and Israel and Jews on the other. This Palestinian protest can be easily refuted, since this subject refers to a chapter in history that directly affects Germany's relationship with Jews, but not with Palestinians.

However, it is easy to understand the Palestinian indignation that they are politically and often legally discriminated against because of events for which they bear no responsibility. After all, bias carries with it a form of discrimination.

"Moral obligation" to relations with the Palestinians

Other Palestinians have more astute and sophisticated arguments with regard to contemporary German history. They do not relativize the Holocaust and its significance for relations between Germany and the Jews; nor do they see it as merely a "detail of history."

Nevertheless, like some German moral philosophers such as Helmut Gollwitzer, they demand that the maxim of "moral obligation" should also apply to relations with the Palestinians, since they view the Palestinian people as the main victims of the founding of the state of Israel, to which Germany contributed in part.

Without the Holocaust, they argue, the founding of the state of Israel would never have taken place in that form or at that tempo. It is well worth noting that this argument derives from a moralist and not a material claim.

Many Palestinians believe that German-Palestinian relations must first be eased. In a political context, this means that Germany, government officials in particular, should behave in a more open and less declaratory manner towards the Palestinians.

And that Germany, whether the state, media or public, should not continually harp on the same tune of political correctness when a clear, Israel-critical balance must be drawn in the context of the settlement politics, the sealing off of the Palestinian territories and the destruction of hundreds of homes there.

The Holocaust as a shield against criticism

Furthermore, politics, the media and organizations should cease exploiting the Holocaust to denounce as anti-Semitic from the outset every "nuanced" and credible criticism of Israel's policies with regard to the Palestinians.

All in all, many Palestinians find the "philo-Semitism" expressed in Germany and elsewhere wrong and hypocritical. They plead in simple terms for the establishment of "special" relations between Germany and their future state of Palestine – of course, in the positive and not the currently strained sense.

They expect, for example, that Germany, which has generously supported the Palestinians financially and economically as no other country, will work as an advocate among its partners in Europe and the world for speedy and efficient aid for the future state.

Certainly this idea of a special relationship between Germany and Palestine is not employable in the political or public spheres. The fact remains, however, that the existence of "special" relations with both adversaries in the Palestine-Israeli conflict would ensure a truly balanced and more active German Near Eastern policy.

It may appear superficially that the establishment of special relations with both conflict parties in the Near East is intellectually and strategically tantamount to squaring the circle.

In reality, though, this would principally and strategically be a step in the right direction as well as serve as an active contribution on the part of Germany and the EU for what the world community desires – the establishment of peace, stability and economic prosperity in the entire Near Eastern region.

Arej Hajjaj

Translation from German: Nancy Joyce