Replace Interpol?

Regarding “Israeli politicians decry PA’s acceptance to Interpol ranks “(September 27), I‘d like to offer a suggestion on how Israel and the West should respond to the admission of “Palestine” to Interpol.

The Palestinians are trying to establish a precedent of getting their non-state admitted to international bodies in the hope that this will lead to their eventual acceptance as a state. Israel’s response should be to seek a counter-precedent: any international body that admits a “State of Palestine” will see an alternative institution established addressing the same issues, thereby effectively challenging its legitimacy and budget. Such alternative bodies won’t be seeking global acceptance, so it won’t be necessary to get all other states to participate.

The case for starting with Interpol is fairly strong: The “State of Palestine” is as likely to use its access to Interpol to undermine the war against terrorism as it is for any other purpose. No Western police force should share intelligence with an agency that is likely to reveal that intelligence to its targets, but a forum for sharing such information is clearly an advantage.

The solution is fairly obvious: establish an alternate to Interpol that will not admit states, or non-states, that cannot be trusted to safeguard information. Once the first such de-politicized international body is established, it will become easier to set up similarly untainted agencies in other areas. The process should continue until the UN and the rest of its system get the message.