The death of Palestinian Authority chairman Yasir Arafat together with Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon's commitment to withdraw from the Gaza Strip may have injected new momentum into Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy, but European attitudes toward Israel continue to deteriorate. This antagonism has many causes—anti-Americanism, media antipathy toward the Jewish state, a perception that Israel is an outgrowth of colonialism, and anti-Semitism. An almost irrational hatred of Sharon, though, has catalyzed many of them, channeling anti-Zionism to new levels. The European obsession with Sharon increasingly makes its involvement in Arab-Israeli diplomacy more a hindrance than a help.

Many Europeans doubt that Israelis want peace, yet they believe Palestinians do.[1] In November 2003, for example, a European Union-commissioned survey found that an average of 59 percent of Europeans saw Israel as posing a threat to world peace, more than felt the Islamic Republic of Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan, or Pakistan to be dangers.[2] Some 35 percent of Europeans believe that the Israel Defense Forces intentionally target Palestinian civilians.[3] Almost half of Frenchmen and Germans surveyed recently believe the White House should exert more pressure on Israel; less than one fifth want to see more pressure on the Palestinians. (American attitudes are nearly the opposite).[4] In another European poll, 39 percent agreed that "Israel's treatment of Palestinians is similar to South Africa's treatment of blacks during the apartheid regime."[5] Fourteen percent felt Palestinian terrorism to be justified, and even those who did not agree believed Israel's response to terrorism to be "excessive."[6] Almost half felt that Israel was not an "open and democratic society."[7]...