Chef de la diplomatie bulgare: l'UE ne comprend pas les difficultés sécuritaire d'Israël

"[En Europe], de nombreux pays ne sont plus sensibles à l'environnement sécuritaire difficile dans lequel vit Israël. On dit souvent que 'nous reconnaissons les préoccupations légitimes de sécurité d'Israël', mais je me demande parfois si nous savons tous ce qu'il y a derrière ces mots."

Pas de relations d'intérêts entre Israël et la Bulgarie (Guysen)

Le chef de la diplomatie bulgare Nikolay Mladenov, reçu mardi par le président israélien Shimon Pérès, a affirmé que les relations entre les deux pays sont fondées sur des liens émotionnels et pas sur des intérêts économiques. ''J'effectue cette visite pour souligner que de vrais amis ne sont pas juste des amis quand cela leur convient mais quand le besoin s'en fait vraiment sentir'', a-t-il déclaré. ''Nous sommes heureux que la majorité des Juifs bulgares aient été sauvés (durant la Shoah) et aient pu construire l'Etat d'Israël. Cela crée un lien émotionnel puissant et nous engage à assurer la sécurité et l'avenir d'Israël'', a-t-il ajouté.

Une interview très intéressante réalisée par Herb Keinon du JPost: "EU doesn't understand what Israel is up against" JPost (extraits)

Asked if there was a fair understanding among his colleagues in the EU of what Israel was up against, Mladenov replied, "Not always, no. I’m being quite honest – no. I think sometimes we tend to oversimplify things in Europe, perhaps because war and confrontation and terrorism are not something that is a daily threat to many in Europe." Mladenov said that "many countries have lost the sensitivity to the difficult security environment in which Israel lives. We often say that 'we recognize Israel’s legitimate security concerns'  but I sometimes wonder if we all know what stands behind these words."

Mladenov, who in 2006 spent time in Iraq as an adviser to the Iraqi parliament, said he had experience living in this part of the world and had a "fair idea of what it means to see someone blow themselves up in the middle of the street and stuff like that.

"I think we should be a little more sensitive to the fact that this is a very tough environment, and that Israel needs to be alert at every single moment in order to be able to protect its security and the security of its people," he said.

Mladenov said it was important for people to understand Israel’s security concerns, and what it was like living in a place like Sderot under the Kassam threat, or "what does it mean to live in constant fear that somebody might decide to blow themselves up in the street, or what does it mean to live in the fundamental fear that there is a another country in the world that says it wants to destroy you as a country."

Having said that, the Bulgarian diplomat added that providing security for one’s own people “doesn’t mean that you can’t or shouldn’t look a little bit beyond the horizon and see what is the framework in which you can resolve this conflict in the longer run,” and that it was important to consider the difficulties facing the Palestinians as well."