Dear Europe:
I am happy about your decision to use power for the sake of peace inKosovo. You have learned your lesson.
Sixty years ago, when the Nazis tormented German Jews and threatened toexterminate all of Europe’s Jewry, you just stood by.
You said: “It is an internal matter.” You said: “International lawprohibits me from intervening.” Last week you put to a final rest thiscynical argument. You determined that it is permissible to interfere inthe internal matters of a sovereign state which persecutes a religious andnational minority. Even more than that: you determined that it is anobligation to interfere. For this you should be blessed.
60 years ago you sacrificed a tiny nation — the Czech people– on the altar of peace and convenience. Tony Blair’s predecessor,the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, stated that theBritish are not prepared to spill their blood for a small and distantcountry which they have trouble locating on the map. Those very samewords can now be heard in the U.S. Not a single American soldier’slife should be put in harm’s way for a country which most Americanscan’t find on the map. But the British nation has paid an exorbitantprice for that wretched line. If only Britain and its allies hadstopped Hitler at that time, instead of signing the Munich Agreement,the lives of tens of millions of people –including those of the sixmillion Jews — would have been spared.
55 years ago, neither Britain nor the U.S. were prepared to use theirplanes to bomb the train tracks to Auschwitz. This week, both sent theirplanes to bomb Serb installations used in the genocide of Kosovars. Whilethis is not enough — I would like to see those powers recognize Kosovoindependence and arm the Kosovar freedom-fighters — it is still a lot.
At that time, the Western leaders, Roosevelt and Churchill, failed to dothe most basic thing: to warn the holocaust troopers that each of them –from the lowest to the highest levels — would be tried for crimes againsthumanity and would pay with their lives for those atrocities. This week Iheard the British Vice Premier utter this unequivocal warning inParliament.
I particularly admire the European and U.S. governments for undertakingthis course of action, despite the fact that Kosovo holds no particularstrategic or any other national self-interest to any of them. To eachsoldier who lays his life on the line in the skies over Yugoslavia, ourheartfelt thanks.
Too bad, dear Europe, that the same didn’t happen two generations ago.But I am glad that it is happening now and I bless you for it.
What puzzles me is the condemnations for this action from many good people– among them some Leftists. International law? Interference in internalmatters? An unjustified use of power? My goodness, we are talking hereabout the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, about the genocide ofthe people of Kosovo, about the destruction of towns and villages, aboutthe expulsion of hundreds of thousands, whose sole crime consists ofbelonging to a different ethnic group.
A few months ago I had the opportunity to take part in a debate (on boarda Japanese ship) with peace activists from Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia andKosovo. It was an accelerated course which turned me into an enthusiasticsupporter of the right of the Albanian people of Kosovo for nationalindependence and most certainly for autonomy. I am glad, dear Europe,that you, too, have recognized this just demand.
Of course I do not like the use of military power. I dream of the day –and it will come, even if I may not get to witness it — when there willbe an international government, with its international court of justice,and an international police force. Today, each state has a court toadjudicate civil conflicts. The police carry out the court’s sentence.Much blood had to be spilt for humanity to reach this stage. Tomorrow, aworld-court will adjudicate conflicts between nations and will enforce itswill. Then will the people of Kosovo and East Timor, Kurds andPalestinians be able to get their justice without bloodshed. But that dayis still very distant, and for now no oppressed nation can hope to get itsjustice without violence. I am happy that Europe is prepared to use forceto save a persecuted and oppressed people whose blood cries out from theground.
And I would also like to thank you, Europe, for your courage inrecognizing the Palestinian people’s right to declare their state. Mostof the Israeli public knows well that there can be no peace here without aPalestinian state, and hundreds of intellectual leaders and peaceactivists have just signed a manifesto right here in Israel recognizingthis right.
I regret the gall of my Prime Minister — the Israeli Milosevic –condemning your decision, while referring to the extermination of a thirdof the Jewish people “on European soil.” My lesson from the Holocaust isthat we must never close our eyes when a religious, ethnic or nationalminority is oppressed in any “sovereign” state. I am glad, dear Europe,that you have learned this lesson. My hat is off to you.