Koizumi's hollow Middle East visit

Now that they have returned to the promised land, with the blessings of the mighty and powerful of the present day world, they do not hesitate to show their religious fervour at a place right beside which stands the third holiest place of the Muslims after Mecca and Medina.

There is no harm in the visiting of such a place by dignitaries who regularly go to Jerusalem on official trips. But when the wailing of children and mothers, victimised by the brutality of an invading army not far from the holy site, tends to touch the sky, any dignitary setting foot near the Wailing Wall of Jerusalem is supposed to hear that cry too, despite the fact that the high-pitched laments of the Jewish believers might drown out all other sounds.

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I'm not sure if the Japanese Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi, could hear the sound of the other laments touching the sky when he posed for a photograph at Jerusalem's Wailing Wall during his recent visit to the Middle East. We didn't hear him say anything, while he was standing there, about the sufferings of the Palestinian people, as Israel continued its all out assault on the Gaza strip to punish the Palestinians for taking an Israeli soldier prisoner and not releasing him without a firm commitment from Israel that it, too, is to release Palestinian prisoners, hundreds and thousands of them, serving prison terms, often unjustified, in Israeli jails.

As the laments of the suffering people are all around, it is obviously bad public relations to go to a place where those responsible for the present sufferings tend to shed tears for something that happened more than two thousand years ago. But bad public relations is what it is has been throughout the brief visit of the Japanese premier to the region, and the Wailing Wall incident is just a small part of that.

Koizumi decided to visit Israel, Palestine and Jordan on his way to Moscow to attend the G8 summit. Policymakers in Japan might have thought that success in the Middle East would probably be seen as a diplomatic coup for the country if Koizumi could go to Moscow after ensuring even a modest breakthrough in the stalled Middle East peace process by pursuing the Israeli and the Palestinian sides to continue dialogue. This would enhance Tokyo's position at the summit in which Japan will be trying to get sanctions imposed on North Korea for country's missile test-fire in early July. But neither Koizumi himself, nor the policymakers in Tokyo could probably guess what a bad time lay ahead for the Japanese leader in the Middle East.

Koizumi's first stopover was Jerusalem where he held talks with his Israeli counterpart, Ehud Olmert, as Israeli troops continued military action in Gaza bringing untold misery to hundreds and thousands of Palestinians trapped in the region. Koizumi, as a result, had no other option but to express concern about Israel's military incursions in Gaza. Speaking at the welcoming ceremony before his meeting with the Israeli leader, the Japanese premier called on Israel to reach a peaceful agreement with the Palestinians. In reply, Olmert simply praised Japan for playing an important role in the Middle East political process but ignored the call.

The next morning the Koizumi entourage came to know about the bombing of the Palestinian foreign ministry building and probably realised what a futile call their leader had made just the day before. And from then on the downward slide continued as the Hezbollah assault and the subsequent Israeli retaliation firmly shut the doors on all hope.

Koizumi's meeting the next day with the Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas at Ramallah turned out to be a mere formality where Japan went back to the practice of checkbook diplomacy by pledging an aid package worth $30 million. The Japanese aid package includes $25 million for water supply infrastructure as well as medical equipment for clinics in the Gaza Strip.

It is interesting to note that during his brief visit to the Palestinian territory, Koizumi not only failed to meet the elected Palestinian Prime Minister Ismael Haniye, but didn't even mention his name in any of the meetings and press conferences that he spoke at. It was as if Hamas was totally non-existent, and the election that saw the group gaining widespread support of the Palestinian people was an illusion not worth mentioning. The rest of Koizumi''s visit to Israel was just to provide photo opportunities, as in addition to the Wailing Wall he had also been to the holocaust museum that Israel never forgets to take the dignitaries to.

So, with what success did Koizumi head towards Moscow to attend the G8 summit? A quick answer is definitely no success at all. By extending her naked military invasion deep into Lebanon, Israel not only ignored the call of the Japanese leader, but also clearly showed how the country evaluates any diplomatic initiative taken by Japan.

It is true that during his meeting with the Israeli leader Koizumi proposed a four-party economic forum that would include Japan and Jordan in addition to Israel and Palestine. The forum would discuss economic cooperation in the region by using Japan's official development assistance fund. He also proposed that Israelis and Palestinians work on a joint agricultural project as a confidence building measure based on economic assistance. Though the Israeli leadership had given verbal consent to the ideas, the intensified fighting that followed overshadowed the whole issue.

As a result, the Japanese leader had to move to Moscow without the coveted prize that his policymakers were eyeing. Hence, the negotiation in Moscow is bound to be a tough one and it will be hard to convince the hosts that the North Korean issue can be resolved only through imposing sanctions against the country.

Monzurul Huq is a columnist for The Daily Star.