Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-11-29-Speech-3-118"
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"en.20001129.8.3-118"2
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"Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Mr Vice-President of the Commission, another member of my group, Mr Modrow, will be speaking on defence matters. For my part, I shall confine myself to what Mr Brok's report terms a cornerstone of the CFSP, ensuring peace and freedom, and conflict prevention. Let me just give one example – one which is extremely topical and most significant in terms of how we must change our policy – namely the Middle East. Here Mr Brok rightly deplores, and I quote, "the persistent inability of the Union to play a constructive role", and in this case the responsibility does not lie with the French Presidency.
I have just returned from a visit to Israel and Palestine last week, where I led a delegation from my group. I can tell you that the Palestinians have great expectations of Europe. If you fly a European flag on your car, you can go anywhere, even into the most miserable refugee camp. We must not disappoint these expectations. What do they expect of us? Basically, three things that are within our reach, provided we ourselves and each of our governments show a degree of political courage.
The first thing they expect is for us to call for international observers to be sent out to protect the people concerned. Let us simply repeat what Mrs Mary Robinson said to the UN Commissioner for human rights: not more, but not less. What we saw in the hospital in Gaza, for instance, was truly horrific. That has to stop. If you have any doubts, I would advise you to read an interview published in the major Israeli daily
on 20 November this year, which reveals the unbelievable orders given to Israeli marksmen facing Palestinians over the age of 12. It gives some idea of the terrible toll of these two months of intifada: 270 dead, most of them Palestinian, and nearly 10 000 wounded, many of them crippled for life.
Secondly, we should dare to call on the Israeli Government to put a halt to its military escalation, which can only set back any hope of peace. I am saying that not in a spirit of hostility but out of a sense of responsibility, in the well-considered interest of both Israel and the entire Mediterranean basin. Of course we must strongly condemn all attacks against Israeli civilians, like the terrible attack on a school bus. We did so immediately, on the spot. But it is not by bombarding Gaza, after plunging it into darkness to impress its people more, or by bombing the villages of the Bethlehem region fifteen times, villages we also visited, that one can hope to escape this spiral of violence.
Thirdly, we should call for new peace negotiations to begin, based on the same principles that we uphold in all the other parts of the world, namely the requirement of respect for international law and the Geneva Conventions, the requirement of respect for the United Nations resolutions. In this case, that means an end to the occupation, including that of East Jerusalem, the dismantling of the settlements and recognition of the refugee problem.
It is the constant violation of these fundamental rights, despite seven years of negotiations, and the resulting exasperation that lie at the core of this popular revolt. So it is these problems that we must resolve if we are to see a return to peace, to a lasting peace. For the rest, many Israelis agree and opinions polls show that over and above any voting intentions, an absolute majority of them accept the idea of a global peace agreement with the Palestinians, including the dismantling of the settlements. As an association of soldiers' mothers stated, we did not take our children out of Lebanon just so that they could die for the settlements.
That is why I believe that Europe must decide to act now. If it does so along the lines I have described, Europe will not only live up to the expectations of the Palestinian people but will also underpin the current of opinion within Israel in favour of a just peace and give itself a worthy and respectable image in the world. Then, and only then, will it have a chance to overcome its impotence in the Middle East and in the Mediterranean region."@en1
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"Haretz"1
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