Europe, a continent of love....

Europe Knows Who's to Blame in the Middle East

"I wish it were possible that we could recall the prize," Hanna Kvanmo, a member of Sweden's Nobel Peace Prize committee, said recently about the 1994 award to Foreign Minister Shimon Peres of Israel. She mentioned no similar regret over Yasir Arafat, who shared the prize with Mr. Peres and Yitzhak Rabin, the late Israeli prime minister.

The remark is emblematic of European opinion on the escalating conflict in the Middle East. Sympathy for Mr. Arafat and the Palestinians, always strong, has grown stronger, while criticism of Ariel Sharon and Israel has grown more strident. Anti-Semitic incidents are rising, especially in France, and with demonstrations scheduled in many European cities, there is anxiety about potential violence.

"The general attitude has changed in Europe and it is a very dangerous moment," said Friedbert Pflüger, a member of Germany's Parliament. "It could open anti-Semitic doors, and we must do important work in the next days and weeks to forestall that."

Given Europe's bloody modern history, especially the Holocaust, in which virtually the whole continent was complicit, the contrast with the United States is striking, said Deidre Berger, director of the American Jewish Committee's office in Berlin.