Here’s a Thought….
November 26, 2008 by ithinkthereforeib
Two academics, Richard N. Rosecrance and Ehud Eiran, make the interesting proposal that Israelis and Palestinians should become Europeans – that is, should join the European Union. The article does not say where the authors are from, though the first name seems to be Jewish, and the second either Jewish or Arabic (I tend towards the former, because “Ehud” looks like a Jewish/Israeli name to me).
In any case, I do wonder what the different parties involved would think about this plan. The European Union struggles enough with talks with Turkey, the first non-Christian nation aspiring to become a member. And Turkey is a highly (and legally) secular nation – with Islam as the primary religion, but laws that even prohibit the wearing of the veil at universities and other public institutions. Personally, I entirely disagree with some EU members’ claims that the European Union is “fundamentally Christian” and was founded on “Christian principles”, because, as a European, I have been raised with an absolute separation of the state and church (no politician better dare to utter the words “God bless you”, as seems to be required in US politics). Then again, my own country is one of those most opposed to Turkey joining (as I have said previously: Austria is a very racist nation. Lovely in other respects but full of xenophobes).
So, how would the 25 member countries accept Israel and Palestine? A Jewish nation, after the genocide of the Holocaust? Would it be a membership of guilt? And Palestine, a nation of a religion that is (in my very subjective opinion) currently everyone’s favourite scapegoat for everything and certainly publicly much more religious than Turkey? Additionally, of course, we are speaking of two nations marked by decades of bloody violence, which probably would not be easily accepted either. Finally, there is the question of Who is European? Where do the invisibly drawn borders of one continent end? Yes, there is the Ural mountain range that splits Turkey right in two, but isn’t that a geographical border we have somehow decided to designate as a political frontier? It is another reason why some people argue Turkey should not be part of the EU, as it is not “European” but “Asian”. But what makes someone (or some nation) European? Asian? African? Perhaps it is more clear with North America, but in Europe/Asia/Africa we do have nations that we could debate about.
Issues of “nationality” (country-wise, but even continent-wise) are always iffy and highly sensitive (i.e. very subjective and emotive). I remember that when I was a student at UWC we would do week-long “National Days”, originally organised (sort of) by continent but some countries never quite fitting. In the end, some nations would be included in two national days (Israel, Palestine, Turkey would indeed participate in both Asian and European days). In fact, the names for the national days reflected those political-linguistic conflicts too: We had “Asia Pacific Day” because nations like Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Samoa, etc. could not so easily be called “Asian”, “Latin American and Caribbean Day” as classmates from the Cayman Islands, Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica and Saint Barthélemy did not feel “Latin” and our single Bermudan felt separate from but also connected to North America, hence making it “North American and Bermuda Day”.
Your thoughts please!
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[...] Here’sa Thought…. … because, as a European, I have been raised with an absolute separation of the state and church (no politician better dare to utter the words “God bless you”, as seems to be required in US politics). Then again, my own country is one … [...]
I don’t get the comment previously posted (the one with the WoW background). Anyways, in order to increase my participation grade in TOK i will comment.
I think the reasons as to why not include Turkey into the EU go far beyond religion and borders. First of all, the customs in both regions are extremely different. Culture wise, they have many differences and this may prove to be yet another obstacle for the inclusion of Turkey into the EU. I do agree there is some controversy with the border of Europe, but, strictly speaking form a political and geographical way, there are some well defined borders. First of all there is the Black Sea (I might be totally lost but I hope I am not). This (at least in my perspective) divides turkey from the rest of Europe. If that is not enough, I am pretty sure that somewhere along our lives we studied that Europe is divided from other regions by a parallel line (after some thought i decide it must be either 30 or 40 degrees above the equator). I do remember, however, that there was a segment of Turkey called “European Turkey”, which was close to either Greece or Bulgaria and nearly closes the Black Sea (if it did I think that would make it a HUGE lake).
Ill give it some more thought.
Comment No. 1 is a pingback. There is a world outside our bubble… (although I don’t get that blogger’s pages either).
Turkey and the EU is a highly complicated issue, no doubt about that! I’m merely considering some of the reasons in the post. But I don’t think to say “customs in those regions are extremely different” is a very convincing argument, for we could say the same about other nations that are EU members. What, after all, does Estonia have in common with Malta? Bulgaria with Luxembourg? The Netherlands with Poland? I have only lived in a handful of European nations (UK, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain/Basque Country) and visited some more (Norway, Hungary, Slovenia, Ireland, Germany, France, Greece, Italy, Cyprus) but have found them rather different. I’m willing to equate Western Austria with Southern Germany, but beyond that… I think there are rather distinct differences, or, at least, as equally distinct as with Turkey.
Here is a map of the EU which allows you to see how it has grown over the years (watch for the changing dates):
European Union – Wikipedia
And another which shows you all current members, with links on the side for information about them:
Europa: Portal Site of the EU
The countries’ names, given in each nation’s official language, are also interesting – even more so since we started discussing this WoK today. All those languages, by the way, are the official languages of the EU, meaning that every official document has to be translated into all of these tongues!
The Black Sea dividing Europe also does not really work. Take a look:
Political Map of Europe
As you can see, Cyprus is further to the south of the Black Sea… and Cyprus is a member of the European Union. Also, if we take bodies of water as a defining factor, the situation simply gets complicated: Wouldn’t that throw out the UK and Ireland (both EU-members)? What about Northern Europe (EU members Finland and Sweden, and non-EU member Norway)? And there is of course Iceland that is far, far out in the Atlantic Ocean (though it is not actually an EU member) and, even further, Greenland, which is a self-governing state of Denmark (an EU member). And don’t forget French overseas (!) territories, such as Guyane and Martinique which the Portal Site marks as “EU”.
Well, obviously EU and Europe don’t equate in any case, but just consider both of those terms and what is included under them point to how complicated such a discussion can get. We do have Switzerland, fully surrounded by EU members but not part of the EU (and not wanting to be either), we have Russia, reaching far out into Asia, not an EU member, but certainly considered European – but, I wonder, would you perhaps not question that if you travelled into some of those far-out regions? I have never been to that part of the world, but I can just see those faces turning more and more ethnically Chinese as you head towards the East….
In the end, my personal conclusion is simply that it is us who draw up such boundaries – for different reasons, and some of them on an entirely unconscious level.
How does the EU plan to get both Israel and Palestine to agree to the “Four Freedoms” of the EU (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Freedoms_(European_Union) which basically state that ehre is freedom to trade and move from one country to another. It seems to me that the conflict between these two nations will produce problems when establishing these freedoms? Discrimination based on nationality is illegal according to the EU Treaty, again what does EU think will happen? It does not seem wise to consider including BOTH in the EU. We also know that the EU would not endanger their relations with either of the countries more than necessary so the possibility of choosing only one cannot be considered…
I think that from what you’ve said, you’re actually pretty right with the fact that there are always some countries that don’t fit into any specific category, and in fact in Europe, Asia and Africa there could be huge conflicts. I understand what you mean by saying that some of the Caribbean Islands didn’t feel “Latin” since, according to my personal opinion they are not at all. Another example is Brazil; why is it sometimes called “Latin” when they actually speak Portuguese. Or in the case of Spain, they can’t be “Latin” since it refers to Latin America, and Spain is located in Europe, but they can be included in the broader category of Hispanics. I don’t know if you watch the shows, but for example there’s American Idol, and Latin American Idol, also French Idol… but let’s not get into that. In Latin American Idol, Brazil does not participate since there are language borders to the singing, but then they created America’s Next Top Model and Brazil’s Next Top Model, I guess to try to make up for them not participating in the other show.
About Israel and the European Union, I don’t think that the world is ready for that yet. I know that it would be marvelous if they entered the European Union, really pacifist ideals, but that is way too idealistic (for me at least). With all that has happened, making Israel part is too complicated; maybe it could work in the future, but right now the project should at least be on hold. Let’s just think about the fact that children of people who were in WWII are alive right now, or people from WWII which are really old. That way a really traumatizing event for the world and not enough time has happened to let go of it. For example, Adrian today presented a video in Anthropology about a problem killing people in Sudan, and the video said: “the world promised that there would be no more killing, but what it really meant was that the Holocaust would never happen again”.
And about Turkey, it depends pretty much on customs also. I’m really no expert on Turkey so I don’t know if they are more Asian or European, but that should definitively be taken into account. Or Bermudas, couldn’t they also be accounted culturally with England? I really think that customs are a matter of importance, since the continents’ division is based on this aspect mainly. Why are Asia, Africa and Europe separated if one could account them as one single piece of land, or in USA, they consider North America and South America (which for them includes from Mexico to the South) as another continent since their customs are very different. I understand what you’re saying about Malta, you’re probably right, but there are some exceptions to every rule, so… I guess there are other categories such as location that define the borders of a continent; but definitively customs is a huge one.
PS: I didn’t know it before, but now that I read what Juan said, I completely agree with him and wonder about the same doubt.
Lissy! I think this is a very interesting entry. Maybe the union of Palestine and Israel ( if it actually happened) could be an attempt to reduce the hostility amongst them. The fact that they would belong to the same group might create a bond. However, I agree with Juan. It would be very difficult to make these countries agree to the Four Freedoms and if only one was to be chosen hostility would only increase. Quite a dilemma if you ask me.