Brazil experts doubt country’s influence to mediate Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Just a week apart, Foreign ministers of Israel and Egypt visit Brazil and suggest a deeper involvement in the peace process.

The Middle East has never been as close to Brazil as it is now.

After the visit by Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, and on the eve of receiving Egyptian Foreign Relations Minister Aboul Gheit, the country is finding itself increasingly involved in the dialogue over the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, as well as other thorny issues. Minister Celso Amorim, who was in the region last January, heard requests from separate parties and is offering to help in the negotiations -a role that the Foreign Ministry considers to have global resonance. Experts, however, feel that the possibilities for Brazilian diplomatic action will always be on the edges of the principal axis formed by the United States and Europe.

Interest became more evident in the Lula [Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva] administration, which from the start has pursued a rapprochement with the Arab countries, particularly the Palestinian Government (1). The invitation to participate in the Annapolis Conference -which, in November 2007, discussed ways of resuming the peace process -was the first real sign that Brazilian diplomacy could have a stronger voice. However, in the opinion of diplomat Rubens Barbosa, ambassador to the United States and the United Kingdom during the Fernando Henrique Cardoso administration, our “power of influence” is limited to the decision reached by the group that met in Annapolis.

“Brazil, despite having more visibility now, still does not have the clout to join this game. It can cooperate in the context of the Annapolis group to create conditions for helping the talks to advance, but I don’t think that it can be a player,” says Barbosa. According to the diplomat, the country lacks “financial, political and diplomatic elements” -which are present in, for example, the United States -to influence the decision-making process. “This (the peace process) is not settled on the basis of voluntarism. It is a question of power: if the United States, which has more influence over there, is unable to achieve a resolution, I don’t see what influence Brazil will have,” he argues.

Samuel Feldberg, a Middle East expert and researcher with the Centre for Research on International Relations at the University of Sao Paulo [USP], agrees that despite its “willingness, goodwill and image of having a balanced position,” Brazil does not have “concrete elements” that can contribute to an advance in the peace process. “The role Brazil can play is very marginal, given the more important involvement of the United States and of various European powers,” notes Feldberg.

Bargain
One of the Brazilian Government’s key interests in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process is to continue to gain global projection. Visibility would be an important boost for its ambitions to occupy a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. For Jose Flavio Saraiva, director of the Brazilian Institute for Foreign Relations [Ibri], this association makes sense, since Brazil wants to be seen as more than just a regional leader. “A global actor cannot be restricted merely to issues involving its neighbourhood, or to the pragmatism of national interests, but must keep an eye on themes of importance on the global agenda. Although on some matters one cannot talk louder, it is possible to participate in the whole,” ponders Saraiva.

Feldberg, however, considers the bargain “erroneous” and Brazil’s involvement in the peace process a “waste of diplomatic clout.” “The acceptance or not of Brazil as a member of the Security Council does not depend on this ‘empathy’ that the country might generate.”

1. IMMEDIATE COOPERATION
Until it can act more effectively in the diplomatic process, Brazil is making an effort to improve the living conditions of the Palestinians. In recent years, the government has helped out in three different ways -through the Conference of Donor Countries, the IBSA Fund (formed by India, Brazil and South Africa) and bilateral accords with the Palestinian [National] Authority. In the first, Brazil donated $10 million for such projects as the expansion of the hospital in Yatta (West Bank) and the construction of four schools. Through the IBSA Fund, a $1 million multi-sport complex is going to be built in Ramallah. The bilateral accords involve electoral, health, education, sports and cultural programmes.