Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-01-31-Speech-3-110"
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"en.20010131.5.3-110"2
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"Mr President, I spent last week with a delegation from the European Parliament seeing the situation on the ground at the flash points of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, i.e. in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron, Ramallah, Gaza and in refugee camps. I am still reeling from the shock. I travelled there believing myself to be well prepared through radio, TV, press and Commission documents as well as personal conversations I had had beforehand, but the reality was altogether different. The living conditions were dreadful and shocking. The situation was explosive to an unimaginable degree. The concept of a state of war best describes the situation. The situation of the people in the occupied areas, particularly in the refugee camps, some of which have existed for over thirty years, can be described as unfit for human habitation. Neither human rights nor fundamental values such as dignity, freedom or democracy, not even the rights to freedom from bodily harm and hygiene are guaranteed and observed.
In the country I come from, people tread extremely carefully when it comes to criticising Israel. There, it is far easier to portray the terrorism and executions committed by Palestinians, along with the claim that Palestinian children are sent into battle. But consider this: those who have lived for over 35 years in a refugee camp of tin sheds, with sacking over windows and doors and no form of infrastructure, will have little faith in negotiations, especially when these same negotiations have dragged on for seven years now to no avail, and not even UN resolutions are recognised.
Incidentally, gatherings of people are dispersed by Israeli soldiers often enough. We experienced this at first hand because our group came under fire. Fortunately no one was injured. What we found was an explosive atmosphere generated by fanatical people who are incapable of reaching compromises and for whom principles rule the day. They are there on both sides, I might add, although there appear to be more of them amongst the fundamentalist settlers, many of whom are still fairly new to the country."@en1
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