Karl Schembri
Ramallah Foreign Minister Tonio Borg officially opened Malta’s diplomatic offices in Israel and the West Bank this weekend. The two offices and their resources are shared with the Cypriot government.
The minister went as far as Bethlehem to visit the “Maltese community” there, made of one nun. He will not be visiting the besieged Gaza Strip, in line with an international boycott of Hamas since they democratically won elections in 2006.
The opening of the two offices – an embassy in Tel Aviv and a representation to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah – was the brainchild of former Foreign Minister Michael Frendo following years of diplomatic efforts in the ongoing conflict.
The Maltese embassy in Tel Aviv will be headed by Ambassador Abraham Borg. Born to a Catholic Maltese father and a Jewish mother, he has served as non-resident ambassador to Israel since 2002.
The Maltese representative to the Palestinian Authority, Alan Bugeja – a European Commission official on long leave for the assignment – presented his credentials to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas last April speaking impeccable Arabic, earning him the compliments of Arafat’s successor.
Israel has still not opened an embassy in Malta, operating from Rome through its ambassadors. Yet Malta’s diplomatic presence in the land of the occupier and occupied is justified by the foreign office “to provide first hand reporting on the situation and developments on the ground”.
In Frendo’s words: “We needed to have these two representations because you cannot be a contributor to peace in the region without engaging with both parties to the conflict.”
The venture is extremely modest and the two offices are shared with the Cypriot government with barely enough space for a secretary’s desk.
Frendo, who last week visited Israel, the West Bank and Gaza as part of an EU delegation – also avoiding meeting Hamas though some delegation members met them secretly – said he had to postpone the opening of the two embassies as the Islamist movement branded as a terrorist organisation by the EU and the US had just won the elections.
“Opening at that time would have been perceived as a sign of support for Hamas and its policies and that was not an expression of our foreign policy,” he said.
Malta’s warm ties with Palestinians are well known and duly reciprocated by the Palestinian Authority. Abbas visited Malta last July. Then President Eddie Fenech Adami had reiterated Malta’s long-standing support for a two-state solution
On the other hand, relations with Israel are always tricky given its notorious “with us or against us” rhetoric.
Since 1975, the Maltese government has been the Rapporteur on the UN Committee on the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People – a role Israel does not much appreciate.
The fiery former Israeli ambassador to Malta, Ehud Gol, spat it out when he told the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee in 2005 that Malta’s role portrayed it as being “pro-Palestinian” and “one-sided”, while slamming Frendo for co-sponsoring what he called “another anti-Israel UN resolution”.
Despite Israel’s recriminations, Tonio Borg defends Malta’s position: “Malta’s role in this Committee is an important point in its foreign policy; Malta believes it has a function in this context, that it is a moderating influence, something that should be seen within the framework of Malta’s Mediterranean vocation.”
Former President Guido de Marco was rudely frisked by Israeli soldiers on a visit 10 years ago in which he persisted in visiting then Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in defiance of Israel’s bullying tactics.
But it was De Marco, as foreign minister in 1994, who was asked by his then Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres to persuade the late Yasser Arafat to resume talks after the latter had suspended them in the wake of the Hebron massacre when Israeli physician Baruch Goldstein killed 30 Muslims by showering them with bullets at a mosque.
Perhaps the greatest unsaid between Israel and Malta is the murder of Islamic Jihad leader Fathi Shqaqi in October 1995 in Malta. With Israeli overseas secret service Mossad blamed for the assassination in cold blood in Sliema, the Maltese government never publicly named anyone and Israel never commented on the case. De Marco had however said “we would not accept any settling of scores in our country.”
As to potential economic benefits from the two new missions, both offices are looking at business opportunities for Malta.
“Possibilities for Malta exist in the fields of tourism, IT, and renewable energy in which Israel is a leader with various types of renewable energy, both solar and wind based,” Ambassador Borg said.
Even Palestine has its potential, as attested by the recent major investment in Malta by Pharmacare – a Ramallah-based pharmaceutical business owned by none other than the Palestinian Minister for National Economy, Basem Khoury.
“Palestine is not only an opportunity for peace but also an opportunity for development assistance and for trade and investment,” Frendo said.
Their economy might be crippled by the occupation, but it’s dying to get out beyond the infamous segregation wall.
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