FINLAND & PALESTINE Proceedings of a Joint Workshop

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OIli Ruohornaki
asking why Finland had used taxpayers' funds to support such
textbooks. Independent research by the Israeli-Palestinian Centre
for Research and Information cleared the allegations as unfounded.
In addition to this, and politically more significantly, an
EU Heads of Mission statement concluded that some of the
problematic quotations can be traced to Jordanian and Egyptian
textbooks. It noted that the PA school textbooks are not perfect,
and certain aspects can be debated, but that EU supported textbooks
are free of incitement of hatred towards Israel. Supporting
the aspirations of the Palestinians towards an independent
state is bound to be a politically challenging endeavour, as the
two aforementioned cases demonstrate.
Conclusions
The Palestinian Territories are both a very interesting and very
challenging context for foreign diplomats to work in. The interest
comes from the fact that the Middle East Peace Process remains
at the heart of international politics. Whenever armed violence,
conflict, security policy, terrorism, state-building and the like, are
debated, the discussion often touches the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict. The Middle East Peace Process is also one of the permanent
issues of the EU's foreign and security policy agenda.
The challenge comes from the fact that it is difficult to plan
anything ahead, as the political situation is so volatile, making
long-term planning almost a futile endeavour. Another important
aspect of working in the Palestinian context is the fact that
it is difficult to be an aloof outsider observer of events. Albeit,
diplomats must strive to have an objective understanding of
the conflict; subjective interpretations and experiences of the
reality do influence one's views. House demolitions, military
check-points, IOF incursions into the West Bank and Gaza cities,
the Wall, and settlements, are all part of local realities.
Also there is a danger of being in the wrong place at the wrong
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