The Prague Post Online: News: Topolánek takes a reality tour of Israel

May 9th, 2008

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Topolánek takes a reality tour of Israel

PM, Israeli counterpart discuss strengthening relations, bilateral ties

March 19th, 2008 issue

By Joshua Brilliant

ISIFA

Topolánek in the Hall of Names at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum in Jerusalem March 10. enlarge

For The Post

SDEROT, ISRAEL

Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek walked across a rubble-strewn living room in the southern Israeli town of Sderot. A thick layer of reddish dust blanketed the floor and dining table. He looked at the ceiling and saw the sky. A Palestinian rocket fired from the Gaza Strip the previous week had crashed through the red-tiled roof, torn the couch and exited through to the neighbor’s yard. The family, who had huddled in a basement shelter, survived.

Topolánek then climbed to an observation point that offered a panoramic view from the coastal town of Ashkelon to Gaza. But, as security men got word that another rocket launch had been detected, officials abruptly sent everyone to their cars.

“I can understand what 15 seconds of fear mean to a human being,” Topolánek told reporters afterward.

This reality tour of Sderot, intended to illustrate the area’s difficult living conditions, took place on the last day of Topolánek’s March 9–11 official visit to Israel. Over the course of his three-day tour, he met with President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Speaker of the Knesset Dalia Itzik and discussed issues such as strengthening bilateral ties and enhancing economic relations. Talks also included agreements on joint Czech-Israeli research and development.

During Topolánek’s visit, Prime Minister Olmert lavishly praised the “impressive political and international partnership” and “outstanding” relationship between the Czech Republic and Israel.

The Czech relationship with the region dates to the early 20th century, when, during the first Arab-Israel War of 1948, Czechoslovakia provided Israel with the sorely needed arms that saved it. Of course, elements of Jewish persecution have been part of Czech culture and both countries shared strong apprehensions of powerful foreign forces.

Diplomatic relations with the region continue to evolve. Topolánek wanted to take a Palestinian student who studied at the Czech Technical University but was trapped in Gaza, back with him to Prague. Czech diplomats, however, were unable to make arrangements for the student to leave Gaza.

Future relations

Topolánek’s trip to Israel comes at a time when the Czech Republic is preparing for January 2009, when the country assumes the European Union’s presidency. At that point, the Czech Republic will join the Quartet, a forum consisting of the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union that strives to set a global policy for dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Topolánek said he hopes to use the leadership role to present new ideas.

“Our presidency is our responsibility,” he told The Prague Post after a March 10 press conference in Jerusalem. “We want to accelerate the discussion — it’s my ambition and my goal during our presidency of the EU.” However, he added, he didn’t think the Czech leadership was “going to bring totally new ideas.”

Already, Prague has joined efforts to strengthen attempts on the part of the Palestinian Authority’s president and prime minister to seek a settlement with Israel. Three Czech police officers have been in the West Bank since October to help run an effective local police force. A Palestinian state cannot be established without the necessary infrastructure and institutions, Topolánek has noted.

Dealing with Gaza, where the Islamic Hamas government effectively rules, is a different story. It shuns the peace process and has rejected the Quartet’s demands to cease violence. Czech diplomats do not go to Gaza, and Topolánek stressed that there will be no negotiations with Hamas “at all.”

Topolánek’s comments toward the end of the visit to Israel indicated that the perspective he gained on this tour could inform his approach to the EU presidency and involvement in the Quartet. “Politicians should take a warning here,” he said at the Czech Embassy just before heading back to the airport, “that using compromise or appeasement is easy, but that is not the direction to take.”

Joshua Brilliant can be reached at news@praguepost.com

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Reader's comments:

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[00:13 26/03/2008] : It's a pity he didn't take the trouble to actually go to Gaza. If he had, he would have understood the dark side of Israel a little more clearly. Instead, he received a propaganda tour which the communists would have been proud of and was dumb enough to believe what he was shown.

Surely the Prague Post is capable of something better than this.

Margot Winston
Prague

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