The Palestinian Foreign Ministry in Brussels has caused outrage with an accusation of racism against Commission President von der Leyen. Previously, von der Leyen had praised Israel’s achievements in the desert.
A greeting from EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on the 75th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel triggered a diplomatic scandal with the Palestinians. Von der Leyen sharply rejected Palestinian criticism of her statements.
One was “uncomfortably surprised at the inappropriate statement by the Palestinian Foreign Ministry,” said a spokesman on Friday at the request of the German Press Agency. The Palestinian authorities are asked to clarify the “unacceptable reaction”.
In the greeting on Wednesday, von der Leyen said that Israel had “literally made the desert bloom”. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry then accused her of undermining the European Union’s image by adopting “anti-Palestinian rhetoric” and demanded an apology. A discourse like that of the German politician “wipes out the Palestinian people and distorts their rich history and civilization,” it said.
At the same time, the narratives used perpetuated the “persistent and racist denial” of the flight and expulsion of around 700,000 Palestinians in the course of the founding of the State of Israel and the first Middle East War in 1948. Immediately after the proclamation of the Jewish state, five Arab states attacked Israel.
The phrase “let the desert flourish” is often used in Israel to refer to the country’s achievements. From the Palestinian perspective, however, he suggests that the region was neither farmed nor inhabited before the founding of Israel.
The EU Commission said that von der Leyen only referred to the fact that Israel had made former desert areas agriculturally usable. It is fitting that von der Leyen said after the desert sentence that she was able to see the flowers blooming last year when she visited the Negev desert.
The spokesman’s statement also pointed out that the EU is the Palestinian Authority’s main donor. The EU has consistently supported the Palestinian people’s aspirations for a state and is committed to a negotiated two-state solution, he said. (dpa)
