It is becoming increasingly difficult and embarrassing to accept Europe’s current thinking over the Palestinian question, for two major reasons: 1) it is too American-inspired for anyone’s liking, and 2) it is being used to punish innocent men, women and children whose only presumed guilt has been to practise their democratic rights.

That Brussels should in any way be interpreting my so-called European citizenship as some sort of collective green light for it to be talking on my behalf in this horrendous

manner is not only nauseating but also highly insulting.

Ever since I witnessed, a mere three days later, the bloody result of the Sabra and Chatila refugee camps

massacres in the early 1980s, I have never been more convinced that Europe, dancing strictly to old American tunes, has not been genuinely interested in solving the Palestinian question, and that all the eyewash and soft-soap of its

politics were a cosmetic application of a policy of submission to its former liberators of a lot more than half-a-century ago.

I will not accept having my views over Palestine and the whole of the Middle East being represented by a group of foreign ministers who think that punishing a whole nation for having produced an electoral result that they ostensibly never anticipated is part of a European policy that makes any sense. I cannot bring myself to accept that our very own Foreign Minister, Michael Frendo, can identify himself with a decision that smacks of hypocrisy and is counter-

balanced on the old colonial tactic of two weights and two measures.

When the Palestinians went to vote in what has been rightly described as a very fair and well-run general election, no European statesman came out to warn them that electing a Hamas government would mean the end of all economic and social aid. People then simply chose to sing the praises of the new and invigorating process of democratic practice that the Palestinians had been finally imbued with, thanks, of course, to all of us kind-hearted Europeans.

It is grossly unfair on the Palestinians to now put them in a position where they have to regret having used the ballot to express their democratic freedom. Even if Europe is unhappy with their choice, it has no right to create hardship and frustration. No one bothered to warn the Palestinians of such an eventuality, obviously on the pretext that they would have otherwise been accused of interfering in the electoral process.

Surely, the European secret agencies and their American comrades must have known that Hamas were in with a very good chance of winning the election, as they eventually did. That they chose to keep silent, only to come out now issuing directives and stopping all forms of aid, is part of a harsh and callous strategy that can only refuel the burning fires of the Middle East, and it certainly does not represent the views of those many of us who think that Palestinian children, men and women should not be brought to their knees simply for having chosen Hamas to govern them. There must have been reasons for them to do so, and no foreign minister of mine, or others in concert with him, should feel that they are doing anything that has even a hint of approval.

I feel ashamed to form part of a Union that disregards the social and economic problems of a nation without a homeland simply because of the policies of a political party that has fairly and squarely won a general election. Not dealing with Hamas, which is also crazy and unfair, is one thing, but stopping aid altogether is a shameful and unchristian act.

And then we are mystified to learn that the extremists have the absolute certainty of a steady queue of young men and women willing to become martyrs by exploding themselves. I do not think such wretched measures can ever be part of any solution, especially if the persuasion involved is based on some religious belief that doing so assures one of a direct trip to heaven, but people who have seen their loved ones – brothers and sisters, fathers and uncles – being killed for believing in a future with a homeland cannot really be blamed for rushing to volunteer.

That Hamas believes Israel should not even exist is a political standpoint with which one does not have to agree. But it is only through negotiation and dialogue that a solution to the dilemma can ever be found. After all, leaders like Arafat, Begin and Sharon were initially perceived as terrorists whom the international community would not dare touch with a barge pole, before they became doves seeking ways and means of finally navigating the long and winding road to peace.

For Europe to kowtow to the Americans over the Hamas issue and the Palestinians is yet more confirmation that the hideous molecules of colonialism and imperialism are still hard at work – in a new disguise. The same feeling is reflected at this moment in time by the obsession with Iran and its nuclear programme. That Europe and the US should create such an ugly and dangerous scene over Iranian aspirations to join the international nuclear family when they, nuclear nations themselves, have never expressed a single note of concern over the well-known fact that Israel has long been active in the production of nuclear weapons is, again, another demonstration of their utter disregard of fairness and international justice. Europe can only represent me, the citizen, when it is working towards solutions through dialogue and assistance and not through a negation of all that, regardless of the misery and pain that is caused to so many innocent people.

My own minister, Michael Frendo, should be distancing himself from such insane measures and not be becoming a part of them. The Maltese have always had a special relationship with the Palestinian people, even way back to the tough and desperate years of World War II, when many Palestinian soldiers were defending these Islands – and the pink empire to which they belonged on the atlas — from Europe’s own sinister Arian offspring.

If our minister cannot, or is afraid to, do anything about it, people should be so told. Becoming EU members has, of course, reduced our foreign policy to a mere nod of acceptance to anything that the powerful and influential members want to do, including punishing a whole people for having accepted Europe’s own insistence that they should become democratic.

Shame on you, Europe.