Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday fell short of securing a commitment from Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov that his country will oppose the Palestinian campaign for UN recognition of statehood in September.
After meeting with Netanyahu, who has been visiting European Union countries in hope of drumming up support against the Palestinians’ UN bid, Borisov said that peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians should resume but fell short of discussing how the Balkan country will vote.
"Come September, you will see … there is time," Borisov said.
The Palestinians, who abandoned peacemaking after Netanyahu refused to renew a freeze on Israeli settlement-building last year, plan in September to seek UN acknowledgement of their claim to sovereignty over all of the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip.
Central and eastern European states, former Soviet satellites keen to reorient toward the West and liberalize their economies, have been receptive to Netanyahu’s message that a Palestinian statehood accord must be negotiated. Israeli officials say they hope for their abstentions, if not objections, in any UN vote.
The Balkan warmth, in contrast to the frost of many western European capitals where Netanyahu is viewed as intransigent, is explained by analysts as a result of both common cultural values and realpolitik.
Israel’s falling out with the Turks over its Gaza policies helped mobilize Ankara’s old rivals in the region in Netanyahu’s favor. They are also interested in Israeli natural gas finds as potential supplements, or substitutes, for Russian-dominated energy supplies.
Nor are Balkan states blind to the standing ovations Netanyahu received in May when he outlined his Middle East vision before the U.S. Congress.
"In general in the Balkans, everyone I have met there from opposing sides finds something of an affinity to Israel – because, I think, their formative experience has been the negative experience of living under totalitarian rule," Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu also commended Bulgaria’s Holocaust record on Thursday, reaching into history in his bid to buttress Balkan bonds as Palestinians campaign for UN recognition of statehood.
Though allied with Nazi Germany, the Bulgarians safeguarded their 50,000 Jews. Many later emigrated to Israel, whose status as Jewish homeland Netanyahu wants Palestinians to endorse – a big bone of contention in stalled U.S.-sponsored peace efforts.
"Bulgaria is under-appreciated," Netanyahu told Reuters during a visit to Sofia, likening its actions to Danish resistance against round-ups by the German occupiers.
"It’s one of the more remarkable stories – perhaps the most remarkable story in terms of the number of people who participated, who stood up."
His Bulgarian host was gratified by the overture.
"I would like to thank the Israeli Prime Minister for sending a message from Sofia … to the world about what the Bulgarian people did during the times of Nazism to save the Bulgarian Jews," Prime Minister Borisov told a news conference.
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