No balance

New Israeli ambassador says Malta does not practice its neutrality principles in relation to the Middle East conflict:

The new Israeli ambassador to Malta, who presented his credentials to President Edward Fenech Adami on Thursday, lost no time in saying what he feels about Malta. “I would like to see a more balanced policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” Gideon Meir told me in an interview. “Malta is now in the EU and the EU wants to play a role in the Middle East,” he added.

Mr Meir is the successor to the widely-popular Ehud Gol. He has been in the Israeli foreign service for 37 years, starting at the lowest level possible – punching holes in the archives. Then he served in Washington, Ottawa and later in London, where he befriended a still young and relatively unknown MP, Tony Blair. They have remained good friends over the years..

Hamas has now been elected to the Palestinian government, but the Palestinians are now in the strange situation of having two heads: a president, Abu Mazan, who was democratically elected and with whom Israel feels it can negotiate, and a government which, although elected democratically, has not accepted the rules of democracy: there is no free press, no voice of the sand, no criticism of government.

As for Israeli relations with Malta, Mr Meir stressed that he would like to see economic and cultural relations enhanced. When peoples meet, he said, both sides can gain from the other.