Newsletter No. 7
June 7, 2005

 

DOUBTS ABOUT TOKYO’S ARAB-ISRAELI MEDIATION EFFORT

The Nihon Keizai Shinbun carries an interesting article on Japan’s role in the Arab-Israeli peace talks in its June 6th edition. It notes that Prime Minister Koizumi has been getting very active in efforts to promote Japan’s role in the talks. For example, he attended a concert at the Israeli Embassy on the evening of May 24th and dined with Arab ambassadors at the Egyptian Embassy on June 1st. He is also trying to arrange for both Prime Minister Sharon and President Abbas to make separate visits to Japan in July. The apparent aim is to enhance Japan’s diplomatic stature and thus to help secure Japan a permanent seat on the UNSC.

The most interesting part, however, is that, according to the Nikkei, there are voices in MOFA expressing open doubt and skepticism about Japan’s role. They doubt that three-party talks will serve any useful purpose. One foreign ministry official commented acidly that “it would be nice if Japan had any interest in the Middle East” and that Japan’s prospects of bringing peace were slim because “the American mediation itself has failed in getting results.”

Nihon Keizai Shinbun, “Shusho—Chuto Wahei ni Iyoku—Sansha Kaidan Jitsugen ni wa Gimon mo (The Prime Minister is Eager for Middle East Peace: There is Even Doubt about the Realization of the Three-Party Talks),” Nihon Keizai Shinbun, June 6, 2005.

What strikes me personally about the MOFA official’s comment is the lack of sensitivity to reasons that American mediation may have failed in the past. Certainly, the US is vastly more powerful than Japan in the West Asian region, but, in my analysis, one of the key reasons that American policy continues to fail is that the US is not regarded as really being an honest broker by all the parties involved. Japan’s historically shallow involvement in West Asia is, from that perspective, a potential advantage if used cleverly.

 

Grant for Palestinian Children

In a related matter, MOFA has just posted information on the topic of “Grant Aid to UNICEF for the Project for Improving the Control of Infectious Diseases and the Nutritional Status of Palestinian Children of the Palestinian Authority.”