Topic: The Situation in Israel/Palestine
Country: Italy
Delegate Name: Benjamin Sorota
School: East Grand Rapids High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Italy position papers GLIMUN 2017 committees
Italy is a nation that has been traditionally touchy to the Palestinian cause and to Arab countries' positions, in a genuinely bipartisan manner. In the previous couple of years, this has been true particularly among left-wing and far-left parties.
Other important considerations are the troublesome planning considering Israel's upcoming elections, in addition the recent surge of terrorism against Jewish focuses in Europe. The far-left parties are the ones that have been pushing to have the vote at the Parliament as soon as possible, and advocating for a full and complete acknowledgment of Palestine regardless to what occurs regarding the reciprocal peace arrangements; the Right restricts any kind of acknowledgment of Palestinian statehood. A recent report from the Institute for Jewish Policy Research about the perception of anti-Semitism among Jews in Italy showed that “43 percent of the respondents agreed that left-wing political views are a source of anti-Semitism in the country today, more so than right-wing political views (32%) and Muslim extremism (17%)”. (Italy, Isreal and Palistinian Statehood: a Cchange of Narrative).
Italy has a strong relation with Isreal, with periodic diplomatic exchanges and a large volume of trade. Therfore, Italy will suport Isreal. The Isreali government has helped us with our fight against international terrorism. Italy feels that we should help someone who has helped us and has no problem helping Isreal. However, as said beofre, Italy hasn’t been touchy to the Palestinian cause in the past and will struggle to fight for a side.
Italy would like to focus more on the issue going on in Iran. We are shifting toward a greater focus on Israel’s concerns, this is taking place in the Italian center-left party. We plan to work with the United States and work out a peaceful negotiation.
