아시아·아프리카·남미 향한
우크라 지원 대열 합류 손짓
팔 민간인 고통에는 ‘소극적’
위선적 행보에 비판의 눈초리
베냐민 네타냐후 이스라엘 총리. AFP연합뉴스
팔레스타인 무장 정파 하마스의 이스라엘 공격 이후 미국과 유럽 등 서방 국가들이 이스라엘에 대한 전폭적 지원을 약속하면서 글로벌 사우스(아시아·아프리카·남미 개발도상국)를 설득해 우크라이나 지원 대열에 합류하게 하려던 서방의 외교적 노력이 수포로 돌아가고 있다는 지적이 나왔다.
파이낸셜타임스(FT)는 17일(현지시간) 서방 관리들과 외교관들을 인용해 이같이 전했다. 미국과 유럽이 수개월 동안 러시아의 러시아를 국제법을 위반하는 ‘왕따’로 만들기 위해 노력해왔으나 지난 7일 하마스의 공격 이후 이스라엘의 무력 보복에 대해 서방이 가자지구 팔레스타인인들의 고통을 외면하고 이스라엘을 감싸는 듯한 태도를 취하면서 글로벌 사우스 사이에서 위선적이라는 반응이 나온다는 것이다.
인도, 사우디 아라비아, 브라질, 남아프리카공화국 등을 포함한 글로벌 사우스는 서방의 대러시아 제재에 동참하는 대신 자국의 실리를 중시하는 독자적 행보를 보여왔다.
하마스의 이스라엘 공격이 일어나기 한 달 전인 지난 9월 초 인도 뉴델리에서 열린 주요 20개국(G20) 정상회의에서 미국과 유럽은 유엔 헌장과 국제법을 강조하며 개도국 정상들에게 러시아의 우크라이나 민간인 공격을 비판해줄 것을 촉구한 바 있다. 그러나 러시아의 우크라이나 전력 시설 및 민간인 공격을 전쟁범죄라고 비판해온 미국과 유럽은 이스라엘의 가자지구 무차별 폭격과 물·전기·가스 차단에 대해서는 말을 아끼고 있다.
요르단과 이집트 등 아랍 국가들은 가자지구 민간인 보호와 관련해 목소리를 높이라고 서방 관리들을 압박하고 있다고 FT는 전했다.
주요 7개국(G7)의 한 고참 외교관은 FT에 “우크라이나와 관련해 글로벌 사우스를 설득하려는 노력은 물거품이 됐다”면서 “그들은 다시는 우리 얘기를 듣지 않을 것”이라고 말했다. 이 외교관은 “우리가 우크라이나에 대해 했던 말들을 가자지구에 적용하지 않는다면 모든 신뢰를 잃을 것”이라면서 “그렇지 않으면 우리가 인권에 대해 하는 말을 브라질, 남아공, 인도네시아 등이 믿을 수 있겠는가”라고 말했다.
일부 미국 외교관들은 조 바이든 행정부가 이스라엘·하마스 전쟁에 대응하는 과정에서 이스라엘에 대한 미국의 지지가 대다수 글로벌 사우스의 입장과 크게 괴리됐다는 점을 우려하고 있다고 FT는 전했다. 주요 개도국들은 전통적으로 자결권과 미국의 지배에 대한 저항의 차원에서 팔레스타인 독립을 지지해왔다.
이 같은 상황에서 결국 러시아가 수혜를 입을 것이라는 전망이 나온다.
한 서방 외교관은 “우리는 러시아가 중국의 지지를 받아 이 상황을 이용하지 못하도록 해야 한다”면서 “우크라이나 지지 결의안을 위한 다음 유엔총회에서 기권하는 국가들이 크게 늘어날 위험이 있다”고 말했다.
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Rush by west to back Israel erodes developing countries’ support for Ukraine
https://www.ft.com/content/e0b43918-7eaf-4a11-baaf-d6d7fb61a8a5
Diplomats warn backing for Israeli assault on Gaza has poisoned efforts to build consensus against Russia’s war
Western officials have been accused of failing to defend the interests of 2.3mn Palestinians in their rush to condemn the Hamas attack and support Israel © FT montage/Reuters
Henry Foy in Brussels October 18 2023
Western support for Israel’s assault on Gaza has poisoned efforts to build consensus with significant developing countries on condemning Russia’s war against Ukraine, officials and diplomats have warned.
The reaction to the October 7 attack on Israel by Islamist militant group Hamas and to Israel’s vow to hit back against Gaza has undone months of work to paint Moscow as a global pariah for breaching international law, they said, exposing the US, EU and their allies to charges of hypocrisy.
In the flurry of emergency diplomatic visits, video conferences and calls, western officials have been accused of failing to defend the interests of 2.3mn Palestinians in their rush to condemn the Hamas attack and support Israel.
In the first days after Hamas’s assault, some western diplomats worried that the US was giving carte blanche to Israel to attack Gaza with full force.
That had eroded efforts since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine to build consensus with leading states in the so-called Global South — such as India, Brazil and South Africa — on the need to uphold a global rules-based order, said more than a dozen western officials.
The backlash had solidified entrenched p-ositions in the developing world on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, officials said. They warned that this could derail future diplomatic efforts on Ukraine.
“We have definitely lost the battle in the Global South,” said one senior G7 diplomat. “All the work we have done with the Global South [over Ukraine] has been lost . . . Forget about rules, forget about world order. They won’t ever listen to us again.”
Many developing countries have traditionally supported the Palestinian cause, seeing it through the prism of self-determination and a push against the global dominance of the US, Israel’s most important backer.
Some American diplomats are privately concerned that the Biden administration’s response has failed to acknowledge how its broad support of Israel can alienate much of the Global South.
In the Middle East, many Arabs feel that the US and other western powers have never held Israel to account for its treatment of Palestinians, or paid enough attention to brutal conflicts in Syria, Yemen and Libya.
Russia and its ally China have cultivated warm ties with the Palestinians. Russia’s president Vladimir Putin on Tuesday met Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing.
“What we said about Ukraine has to apply to Gaza. Otherwise we lose all our credibility,” the senior G7 diplomat added. “The Brazilians, the South Africans, the Indonesians: why should they ever believe what we say about human rights?”
Vladimir Putin, left, and Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Tuesday at the Belt and Road Initiative © Sputnik/Sergei Savostyanov/Pool/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock/Reuters
Just four weeks before the Hamas assault on Israel, leaders from the US, EU and western allies attended the G20 summit in New Delhi and asked developing nations to condemn Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian civilians in order to uphold respect for the UN charter and international law.
Since last Sunday, many of those officials told the Financial Times they have had the same argument read back at them in demands for condemnation of Israel’s retaliatory assault on Gaza, and of its decision to restrict water, electricity and gas supplies there.
In recent days Russia has sought to pass a UN Security Council resolution condemning violence against civilians in the conflict, without specifically mentioning Hamas. The council rejected its resolution on Monday.
“I mean, let’s be frank. This is a gift from heaven for Russia,” said a senior EU official. “I think it’s damaging what’s happening . . . because Russia is exploiting the crisis and saying, ‘Look, the global order that has been built after the second world war is not working for you,’ and addressing 1bn inhabitants in the Middle East or in the Arab world.”
Arab states, particularly Jordan and Egypt, have pressed western officials to harden their tone on protecting Gaza’s civilians. “If you describe cutting off water, food and electricity in Ukraine as a war crime, then you should say the same thing about Gaza,” said one Arab official.
They noted a shift in tone from some western governments in recent days. Since Sunday, the EU and UK have announced an increase in aid shipments to Gaza.
US president Joe Biden was due to visit Israel on Wednesday before meeting the leaders of Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority in Amman. The second leg of that trip has been cancelled after a deadly explosion at a Gaza hospital on Tuesday evening. The White House said he would “reiterate that Hamas does not stand for the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and self-determination and discuss the humanitarian needs of civilians in Gaza”.
In a sign of concerted efforts to maintain contact with developing countries, James Cleverly, UK foreign secretary, said on Tuesday he had spoken to the foreign ministers of Brazil, Indonesia, the Philippines, Morocco and Saudi Arabia in recent days.
At an emergency video summit of EU leaders on Tuesday, several leaders warned that failing to uphold the rights of Palestinians in Gaza risked exposing western states to the charge of hypocrisy, said multiple people briefed on the discussion.
That discussion was prompted by irritation across EU capitals over European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen’s decision to travel to Israel last week without a mandate from the bloc’s 27 member states or an agreed common p-osition. Ireland, Spain and Luxembourg were upset at her lack of reference to international humanitarian law when she spoke in Tel Aviv.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, centre, during a visit last week to the Kfar Aza kibbutz near the border of the Gaza Strip © Bea Bar Kallos/European Commission/dpa
“What New Delhi, Jakarta and Brasília want to see is a common p-osition on these issues, and consistency. And if they don’t see that . . . then on the major global issues there’s a certain danger EU, G7, Nato will not be taken seriously,” said Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, former Nato secretary-general.
“We, the west, do not call the shots any more, and the Global South says: ‘Please, we have a voice as well which you have neglected for some time,’” added de Hoop Scheffer, now chair of the Clingendael Institute, a Dutch think-tank.
Russia’s proposed UN Security Council resolution garnered support from only four countries — China, the United Arab Emirates, Mozambique and Gabon — but many western diplomats worry that an amended Russian resolution could gain the nine votes required to pass. The US, UK or France might then veto it, handing Moscow a propaganda victory.
“We have to prevent Russia . . . supported by the Chinese . . . taking the initiative to use this against us,” said a senior western diplomat. “There’s a risk that at the next vote in the [UN] General Assembly on supporting Ukraine, we’ll see a big explosion in the number of abstentions.”
France, in particular, is concerned about the risk of escalation in the Hamas-Israel conflict. It believes Russia is no longer playing the traditional “great power” role of restraining its allies in the region, but instead sees an opportunity to consume US resources and distract from Ukraine.
“Russia has a huge stake in prolonging this conflict, given the distraction value . . . and the use in shifting the global narrative,” said one western foreign minister.
EU and US diplomats will also use Friday’s summit in the White House between Biden, von der Leyen and EU council president Charles Michel, who represents the EU’s 27 national leaders, to forge a common p-osition.
“Europe has to hold the line here,” the minister said. “We were a bit of a mess to begin with but I think we’re better co-ordinated now in terms of defending fundamental rights and making sure we see both sides.”
Additional reporting by Andrew England in London, Ben Hall in Paris and Felicia Schwartz in Washington