Henry Kissinger created “shuttle” diplomacy, but before that there was “dollar”diplomacy, and “gunboat” diplomacy before that. Now “turismo” diplomacy has entered the lexicon of international relations.
It has come into use in recent months to refer to the peculiar process being used by Spain and Israel in establishing official relations and channels of communication, after 35 years of non-recognition.
Instead of negotiating a treaty and exchanging ambassadors according to international custom when two countries first establish diplomatic relations, these two are sending tourism officials to each other as national representatives, under directives to meet and organize intergovernmental activities.
Spain expects in this way to avoid confrontations with her Arab friends; and the Socialists in power hope to avoid a showdown with their left and right opposition parties. No slight in intended or implied by Spain’s designating tourism officials to carry the diplomatic flag in approaches to Israel. In Spain, tourism has Cabinet status.
When, earlier this year, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fernando Moran, who normally would handle it, began waffling on the question of recognition for Israel, under heavy pressure from Arab countries, the Council of ministers voted to assign the responisibility to the Minister of Transportation, Tourism and Communications, Enrique Baron with authority to develop official activities.
The Israel government has named a career diplomat, Samuel Hadas, as director of the World Tourism Organization. He resides in Madrid, where he has been received by King Juan Carlos, and is liaison between Spanish officials and their Israeli counterparts. The Spanish press openly refers to Hadas as “unofficial Ambassador.”
COMMERCIAL RELATIONS AND TECHNOLOGICAL EXCHANGES
For 35 years, since the State of Israel was founded, the Arab nations have successfully kept Spain and Israel politically isolated from each other. Israel is one among only three countries denied diplomatic status in Madrid, the others being Albania and North Korea.
Despite this, Israel and Spain have developed substantial commercial relations and technological exchanges. Trade between them doubled each year from the mid-1970’s, and reached about $200 million in 1979.
By contrast, according to the political writer, Antxon Saraqueta, there has been a strikingly small Arab economic involvement with Spain, very inferior to what they maintain with other European countries — all of whom have diplomatic relations with Israel.
With the new official relationship between Spain and Israel promoting an interchange of travelers, Tourism Minister Baron reported at the end of October that he was looking to annual Israeli spending of 1.300 million Pesetas (just under $1 million) and 60,000 tourists from Israel.
Arab tourism is minuscule in comparison. The main impact from Arab countries has been that of wealthy shieks buying up resort properties. This has been credited by observers as helping to inflate real estate prices in vacation areas.
Two factors are seen as bearing on Israel’s confident prediction that diplomatic recognition by Spain is close at hand. First, of course, is the world oil situation, and the declining power of the Arabs to use their OPEC set-up in dictating political wishes.
The other is perception of moral/psychological and political realities. As a nation, Spain wishes to be accepted into the Western democratic community and, as an editorial in the International Herald Tribune put it, to hold back from full diplomatic recognition of Israel is an “obsolete and petty attitude not befitting” a country with Spain’s ambitions.
Spain’s influential intellectual community is taking up the idea. Said the nation’s most respected philosopher, Julian Marias, of the Spanish Royal Academy, in a statement published prominently by ABC, the major conservative newspaper, “To now even question whether Spain and Israel would establish diplomatic relations is either ridiculous or scandalous.”
He went on to enumerate the many strong ties binding Spaniards and Jews, and said a major part of Israel’s population today is of Spanish ancestry, many of whom have retained their Spanish roots in language and feelings of attachment, down through the generations since the historic expulsion of 1492.
In fact, Marias said, during his own travels in Israel, he observed that Spanish is becoming the “primary” second language. It is scandalous, he concluded, that Spain has not yet achieved independence from Arab dictation. (Tomorrow: Part Three)
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
