Unacceptable support

Dear TBT,

On the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of Estonian independence, the irony of Estonia’s tacit support for Israel’s continuing illegal occupation of Palestinian land is very striking. I have been corresponding on the subject of Estonian-Israeli ICT joint projects with Marko Koplimaa of the Estonian Foreign Ministry. In his letter to me, he said that “Estonia considers Israel a democratic nation” and that “the current situation in the Middle East is not acceptable in the long run.”
My reply ran as follows: Dear Mr. Koplimaa, Thank you very much for your speedy reply. I would just like to make a few points.

1. Israel is a democracy: a debatable definition. Between 24 and 30 percent of Israelis are non-Jews. It is quite clear that, by any reasonable measure, the state does not ‘belong’ to them. Also, four million Palestinians live under Israeli control, but are not accorded citizenship; neither will Israel allow a sovereign Palestinian state in the Occupied Territories - the latest Wikileaks revelations have confirmed what all but the most willfully naive have known for decades.

2. In any case, even [if it] were [that] Israel [is] a ‘normal’ democracy, that is strictly beside the point. International law applies to all states, irrespective of their political character. Israel is profoundly in breach of the most fundamental rule of inter-state relations - namely, the prohibition on the acquisition of territory by means of war.

3. You say “the current situation in the Middle East is not acceptable in the long run.” This is disingenuous. First, I did not refer to the Middle East, just to Israel and Palestine. Also, the Israeli Occupation, which began in 1967, is already in “the long run”; in two years it will be longer than the post-war Soviet Occupation of Estonia. And to repeat - it is not “unacceptable” - it is illegal.

4. I pay my taxes in Estonia. I am extremely unhappy that I am helping to fund projects administered by an Estonian government, which seems to pick and choose which breaches of international law are iniquitous and which are only “not acceptable in the long run.” It also worries me that ICT initiatives will inevitably aid Israeli in prosecuting its continuing illegal actions, both the Occupation itself and its military operations, which, you will know, The Goldstone Report concluded constituted war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity. Can you provide any guarantees that I am not funding future war crimes and infractions of international law?

Thank you
Frank Carney

I have not received an answer to this letter, sent on February 2.
I would urge all your readers, if this situation concerns them, to write to their representatives, and, if they wish to get further involved, to contact [email protected]

Yours faithfully
Frank Carney, plus Steve Ford, Myra Ford, Roland Rand, Ulme Muld
Tallinn, February 14, 2011