Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-05-15-Speech-3-145"
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"en.20020515.7.3-145"2
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"Mr President, I would like to start by condemning the European Parliament delegation for relations with Israel, which held a formal inaugural meeting in March, for not holding its first official meeting until 12 June.
We have the utmost consideration for the personal problems of its chairman, but I feel that it might have been preferable for the delegation to have met and been able to debate during these extremely difficult and sensitive months for Israel and the Middle East.
High Representative, this House has always condemned the unilateral vision of the majority of the European political groupings, which are unable to distinguish between democratic countries committed to respecting human and civil rights against all odds, and corrupt, despotic regimes. Europe has, to date, been almost unilaterally condemning outright the actions of the Israelis to control and eliminate terrorism while voicing only mild, routine criticism of the actions of the suicide bombers striking in Israel, who were under the same clear, cynical orders as those who struck in the United States.
Even with regard to Jenin, High Representative, Commissioner, Europe stirred itself up into a fury and lynched Israel, accusing it of mass slaughter without any actual evidence.
Now, at last, it is becoming clear that there can be no peace without freedom or democracy. Mr Solana, you have assured us that Europe will continue to call for a more democratic Palestinian Authority which shows greater respect for the rights of the Palestinians. Indeed, we can delete the word ‘greater’. However, this means acknowledging that the principle cause of the tragedy we have witnessed in recent months and years was the denial of freedom and democracy to the Palestinian people and all the other peoples who live in that region under the yoke of tyrannical regimes, satrapies and dictatorships.
We must not be racist. We must be cautious but it would be wrong to forget that the Lebanese, Syrian, Iraqi and Palestinian citizens are entitled to freedom and democracy; we must condemn the fact that it is often precisely those States that foster terrorism which refuse to contemplate the idea of freedom and democracy in their territory.
Commissioner, when Binyamin Netanyahu wonders what our opinion is on the Likud motion, when he raises the question of the nature of the Palestinian State
whether it is a free, democratic State or a State full of unlawful activity and terror which, as a result, breeds terror – he might be asking us, asking you too a valid question.
We welcome the launch of an electoral process in Palestine. However, we are mindful of the fact that Yasser Arafat should have been re-elected in 1999 but that no elections were held, and that was before the start of the intifada."@en1
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