Kosovo's stark warning
The Jerusalem Post - February 22, 2008, Friday
By: Caroline B. Glick
Kosovo's US-backed declaration of independence is deeply troubling. By setting a
precedent of legitimizing the secession of disaffected minorities it weakens the
long-term viability of multi-ethnic states. In so doing it destabilizes the
already stressed state-based international system.
States as diverse as Canada Morocco Spain Georgia Russia and China currently
suffer problems with politicized minorities. They are deeply concerned by the
Kosovo precedent. Even the US has latent sovereignty issues with its
increasingly politicized Hispanic minority along its border with Mexico. It may
one day experience a domestic backlash from its support for Kosovar independence
from Serbia.
Setting aside the global implications it is hard to see how Kosovo constitutes a
viable state. Its 40 percent unemployment is a function of the absence of proper
economic and governing infrastructures.
In November a European Commission report detailed the Kosovo Liberation Army's
failure to build functioning governing apparatuses. The report noted that "due
to a lack of clear political will to fight corruption and to insufficient
legislative and implementing measures corruption is still widespread... Civil
servants are still vulnerable to political interference corrupt practices and
nepotism." Moreover Kosovo's public administration remains weak and inefficient.
The report continued The composition of the government anti-corruption council
does not sufficiently guarantee its impartiality, and "little progress can be
reported in the area of organized crime and combating of trafficking in human
beings."
Additionally the prosecution of Albanian war criminals is "hampered by the
unwillingness of the local population to testify" against them. This is in part
due to the fact that "there is still no specific legislation on witness
protection in place."
The fledgling failed-state of Kosovo is a great boon for the global jihad. It is
true that Kosovar Muslims by and large do not subscribe to radical Islam. But it
is also true that they have allowed their territory to be used as bases for al-Qaida
operations; that members of the ruling Kosovo Liberation Army have direct links
to al-Qaida; and that the Islamic world as a whole perceived Kosovo's fight for
independence from Serbia as a jihad for Islamic domination of the disputed
province.
According to a 2002 Wall Street Journal report al- Qaida began operating
actively in Kosovo and in the rest of the Balkans in 1992. Osama bin Laden
visited Albania in 1996 and 1997. He received a Bosnian passport from the
Bosnian Embassy in Austria in 1993. Acting on bin Laden's orders in 1994 his
deputy Ayman Zawahiri set up training bases throughout the Balkans including one
in Mitrovica Kosovo. The Taliban and al-Qaida set up drug trafficking operations
in Kosovo to finance their operations in Afghanistan and beyond.
In 2006 John Gizzi reported in Human Events that the German intelligence service
BND had confirmed that the 2005 terrorist bombings in Britain and the 2004
bombings in Spain were organized in Kosovo. Furthermore The man at the center of
the provision of the explosives in both instances was an Albanian, operating
mostly out of Kosovo... who is the second ranking leader of the Kosovo
Liberation Army, Niam Behzloulzi.
Then too at its 1998 meeting in Pakistan the Organization of the Islamic
Conference declared that the Albanian separatists in Kosovo were fighting a
jihad. The OIC called on the Muslim world to help "this fight for freedom on the
occupied Muslim territories."
Supporters of Kosovo claim that as victims of genocide, Kosovar Muslims deserve
independence. But if the Muslims in Kosovo have been targeted for annihilation
by the Serbs then how is it that they have increased from 48 of the population
in 1948 to 92% today? Indeed Muslims comprised only 78% of the population in
1991 the year before Yugoslavia broke apart.
In recent years particularly it is Kosovo's Serbian Christians not its Albanian
Muslims who are targeted for ethnic cleansing. Since 1999 two-thirds of Kosovo's
Serbs - some 250,000 people - have fled the area.
The emergence of a potentially destabilizing state in Kosovo is clearly an
instance of political interests trumping law. Under international law Kosovo has
no right to be considered a sovereign state. Even UN Security Council Resolution
1244 from 1999 which the KLA claims provides the legal basis for Kosovar
sovereignty explicitly recognizes Serbian sovereignty over Kosovo.
For Israel Kosovo's US-backed declaration of independence should be a source of
alarm great enough to require a rethinking of foreign policy. Unfortunately
rather than understand and implement the lessons of Kosovo the
Olmert-Livni-Barak government is working actively to ensure that they are
reenacted in the international community's treatment of Israel and the
Palestinians. Today Israel is enabling the Palestinians to set the political and
legal conditions for the establishment of an internationally recognized state of
Palestine that will be at war with Israel.
By accepting the "Road Map Plan to a Two-State Solution" in 2004 Israel
empowered the US the EU Russia and the UN who comprise the international Quartet
to serve as judges of Palestinian and Israeli actions toward one another. In
November 2007 at the Annapolis conference the Olmert-Livni-Barak government
explicitly empowered the US to "monitor and judge the fulfillment of the
commitment of both sides of the road map."
That these moves have made Israel dependent on the kindness of strangers was
made clear this week when Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni instructed Israel's
ambassadors to launch a campaign to convince the international community that
Israel and the Palestinians are making great strides in their negotiations
toward the establishment of a Palestinian state. Livni's move was precipitated
by growing European and US dissatisfaction with the pace of those negotiations
and by reports from the meeting of Quartet members in Berlin on February 11.
There all members voiced anger at the slow pace of negotiations and opposition
to Israel's military actions in Gaza which are aimed at protecting the western
Negev from rocket and mortar attacks.
The US representative at the Quartet's meeting Assistant Secretary of State
David Welch reportedly told his colleagues First, we must not allow the suicide
bombing in Dimona and the shooting on Sderot to affect the negotiations.
Welch reportedly added It is also important to us that neither the Palestinians
in Gaza nor the Israelis in Sderot are hurt. Also, we must continue to
strengthen Mahmoud Abbas and Salaam Fayad.
Moreover Ran Koriel Israel's ambassador to the EU reportedly warned Livni that
the Russians are pushing for the re-establishment of a Fatah-Hamas government.
Several EU states including France are reconsidering their refusal to recognize
Hamas.
If Israel had not empowered the Quartet generally and the US specifically to
determine whether the PA and Israel are behaving properly a European or Russian
decision to recognize Hamas would have little impact. But given their role as
arbiters Quartet members can take punitive action against Israel if it fails to
comply with their wishes. The Quartet can replace international law in
determining who can assert sovereignty over Gaza Judea and Samaria and how
Israel can exercise its own sovereignty. And so Livni is reduced to begging them
not to recognize Hamas.
Once the US decided in 1999 to commit its own forces to NATO's bombing of Serbia
and subsequent occupation of Kosovo the jig was up for Serbian sovereignty over
the area. The fact is NATO forces in Kosovo were deployed for the express
purpose of blocking Serbia from exercising its sovereignty over Kosovo not to
prevent violence between the Kosovars and the Serbs or among the Muslims and
Christians in Kosovo. That is NATO deployed in Kosovo to enable it to gain
independence.
And if US or NATO forces are deployed to Gaza or Judea and Samaria they will not
be there to protect Israelis from Palestinian terror or to prevent the areas
from acting as global terror bases. They will be there to establish a
Palestinian state.
Failing to understand the meaning of Kosovo the Olmert-Livni-Barak government
refuses to understand this point. Indeed the government is actively lobbying
NATO to deploy forces in Gaza. Just as it wrongly hoped that UNIFIL forces in
south Lebanon would fight Hizbullah for it so today the Olmert-Livni-Barak
government insists that NATO forces in Gaza will fight Hamas for it.
If applying the lessons of UNIFIL to Gaza is too abstract for the
Olmert-Livni-Barak government Israel has experience with EU monitors in Gaza
itself to learn from. Wrongly assuming that the Europeans shared Israel's
interest in preventing terrorists and weapons from entering Gaza Israel
requested that EU monitors set up shop at the Rafah terminal linking Gaza to
Egypt after Israel withdrew from the border in 2005. Yet whenever confronted by
Fatah and Hamas terrorists rather than fight the EU monitors flee to Israel for
protection. And its monitors' experience with Palestinian terrorists taking over
the border has never caused the EU to question its support for Palestinian
statehood.
Then too since the US EU UN and Russia all consider Gaza Judea Samaria and
Jerusalem to be one territorial unit it is not surprising that Israel's request
for NATO forces in Gaza has been greeted by a US plan to deploy NATO forces in
Judea and Samaria. If NATO forces in Gaza would do nothing to secure the border
with Egypt or to fight terrorists and would scuttle Israeli operations in the
area NATO forces in Judea and Samaria would not simply prevent Israel from
protecting its citizens who live there. They would also prevent Israel from
taking action to prevent the Palestinians from attacking central Israel and
asserting control over the border with Jordan. And yet as The Jerusalem Post
reported this week Israel is conducting talks with the US regarding just such a
NATO deployment.
What the Serbs made NATO fight its way in to achieve Israel is offering NATO on
a silver platter.
Not surprisingly Abbas's adviser and PA propaganda chief Yasser Abd Rabbo
reacted to Kosovo's declaration of independence by recommending that the
Palestinians follow the example. Abd Rabbo said Kosovo is not better than us. We
deserve independence even before Kosovo, and we ask for the backing of the
United States and the European Union for our independence.
For its part the Olmert-Livni-Barak government has responded to Kosovo's
declaration of independence with customary confusion. But the lessons of Kosovo
are clear. Not only should Israel join Russia Canada China Spain Romania and
many others in refusing to recognize Kosovo. It should also state that as a
consequence of Kosovo's independence Israel rejects the deployment of any
international forces to Gaza or Judea and Samaria and refuses to cede its legal
right to sovereignty in Judea Samaria Gaza and Jerusalem to international
arbitration.
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