2023-12-01 05:13:42
Former Israeli Foreign Minister Josef “Yossi” Beilin is certain that Austria is also capable of mediating in the Middle East conflict. “Of course it could play a mediating role,” said Beilin on Thursday evening in an interview with the APA on the sidelines of the 15th European Media Summit in Lech. “You don’t have to be a superpower to make peace, but you have to be crazy enough to want it,” said Beilin, who is considered the architect of the 1992 Oslo Accords.
In his opinion, every country can contribute to closing the rifts in the Middle East conflict. “Of course this can come at a high price,” Beilin explained. “Sometimes both sides become your enemy.” Postscript: “In the end everyone hates you and you wonder, why do I have to endure this damn headache when they curse me and don’t want me?” But if “a country like Austria were interested in dealing with this matter,” it would be of “great importance.” Because at some point a new government will follow Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s current cabinet – “and must. Then there is a chance.” The solutions already exist, emphasized Beilin. “Then you can finish the work in a few months, a year or two years.”
In an interview with the APA, Beilin cited the Oslo, Stockholm and Geneva agreements as examples. “All of these cities were in small countries that weren’t even in the EU at the time,” said the ex-minister. Small countries in particular have more leeway in their diplomatic efforts than global powers or larger organizations such as the EU.
“I mean, looking back, what Norway did was totally crazy,” said the 75-year-old. “A guy like me comes and explains: ‘Let’s start secret negotiations and work together, I won’t even tell my prime minister,” Beilin said, recalling his most formative time as a minister. At that time, secret negotiations in the Norwegian capital under Beilin’s leadership ultimately resulted in the first Oslo Agreement in 1993 – the cornerstone of the idea of a two-state solution. “The Norwegians were pioneers, but never physically entered the negotiating room. They paid for the plane tickets, organized everything and so on.”
“I will not ask Austria whether it will get involved because I cannot promise that it will be successful,” explained Beilin. “But if Austria asked me whether it should do that, then I would say: Yes, it does.”
Josef “Yossi” Beilin was deputy foreign minister in the government of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin as a member of the Social Democratic Workers’ Party. After Rabin’s assassination in 1995, he became foreign minister. The politician was a confidant of former Prime Minister Shimon Peres and also a close friend of the former Austrian Foreign Minister and Chancellor Bruno Kreisky (SPÖ). “He was a personal companion of mine,” said Beilin about the Social Democratic politician, who died in 1990.
In the APA interview, Beilin also cleared up the claim that Kreisky had an anti-Israel stance. “He was a friend of Israel. The fact that he was anti-Israel was just an invention of the right-wing forces and (Prime Minister) Golda Meir.” Beilin also shared an anecdote about his time with Kreisky. “I remember that he almost cried when he came to visit me at home because Golda Meir said that he never even offered her water in Vienna,” Beilin recalled. “He told me: ‘I offered her coffee and strudel,” said Beilin about Kreisky’s relationship with the former Israeli prime minister (1969 to 1974).
Beilin is “very satisfied,” as he said, with Austria’s current foreign policy towards Israel. “I have to admit that the current government is very positive towards Israel.” Most recently, Austria voted together with the USA, Israel and eleven other states against the UN resolution on a ceasefire in the Gaza war passed on October 27th.
For the postwar period, Beilin proposed placing the Gaza Strip under the administration of a “trust of countries,” or the UN. “Cambodia 1992 could be a role model.” At that time, the United Nations took over the interim administration of the Southeast Asian state after the end of the Cambodian-Vietnamese civil war.
However, against the background of the terrorist attack in Jerusalem on Thursday, Beilin also emphasized that Israel must continue to exert pressure on Hamas. Continuing the ceasefire against this background would therefore be the wrong decision. However, the aim of the war should not only be to kill all terrorists, but also to end Hamas’ administration of the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Security Minister Itama Ben Gvir said after the attack that the only way to talk to Hamas was “through rifle scopes” and suggested that more civilians should have more weapons. Beilin said: “That’s crazy, he’s an extremist. The same thing will happen as in the USA, where a lot of people die from firearms.”
One of his biggest concerns as a result of the terrorist attacks on October 7th is the upgrading of the secret services and the breach of constitutional rights. “It’s a completely natural reaction. And there are always those who abuse it to somehow deprive citizens of their rights.” After all, the attacks were comparable to the plane hijackings on September 11, 2001. “October 7th was our 9/11,” said Beilin. “It took me a long time to realize what had happened.”
(The interview was conducted by Nikolaus Pichler/APA)
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