Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-06-12-Speech-3-259"
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""We are not creating a coalition of States, we are uniting people". However, this required more than new institutions and procedures; it required the deep practical acceptance of the idea that the future for any depends upon the future for all.
Neither in the West nor in the Arab world can we allow Islam to be equated with terrorism. But more than that, we must make sure that all our peoples know and understand our shared values and the tremendous benefits of our partnership. This holds true, by the way, for our friends across the Atlantic as well. When Americans stereotype Europe or Europeans stereotype America, or either stereotype the Arab world, we all lose. Ours is a struggle for the future, a struggle in which every hand will count. That means ongoing practical dialogue and cooperation and, above all, it means speaking clearly and forcefully about the principles we stand for: democracy, freedom, respecting diversity, honouring the individual and the heritage each one represents.
Our second great challenge is to open the doors to prosperity and hope for all our peoples.
Today, half the Arab world is under 18 years of age. Our young people, like yours, seek to be a part of the 21st century but all too many are alienated from what makes our era so promising: innovation, new knowledge, productive employment and the creation of wealth. Too many perceive an unbridgeable divide between western haves and worldwide have-nots. This division provides a breeding ground for anger and conflict. The international community has a duty to help young minds see justice upheld and not delay it. Europe has a special role through its partnership in giving young people an opportunity to find hope.
Jordan is honoured to be the first Mashreq country to sign an association agreement with the European Union. That agreement came into force last month. Its objectives include a progressive liberalisation of trade in goods, services and capital development – all key engines of economic growth and opportunity. In these and other efforts we are working together to provide better lives for our people and to create shared economic prosperity.
An important step is the creation by 2010 of a free trade area between Jordan and the European Union countries. Europe is Jordan's major trading partner: your markets provide about one third of all our imports. However, European markets receive less than 4% of our exports. To improve the economic opportunities, we must increase such trade relations. We believe that joint action on a number of related issues will help us to do so. We are grateful for the European Union's support during the period of transition.
I am glad to report that we have already made considerable progress in liberalising our economic structures. We are charting a new path in our region, one where the private sector is a full participant where trade can be open and free and private capital can flow and, most importantly, we are investing in human resource development, including upgrades in educational and training standards. These reforms, along with others, have already resulted in major economic, social and even cultural transformations.
Jordan is providing a model of political stability, democratic principles and the rule of law, a model that offers our people an opportunity to excel and offers promise throughout the region. We count on your continued support to ensure that our model leads the way.
In one major aspect – that of exiting from a heavy debt burden, which has constrained our potential for excellence – we need your immediate support. In fact, despite my country's bold steps and considerable success, another reality continues to endanger our efforts: namely, the absence of peace in our region. Last year Jordan succeeded in achieving 4.2% real growth in GDP. However, the regional situation costs us at least 1% per year in growth. That drain impacts on a whole range of national priorities and ours is not the only country so affected.
Let me say this plainly: we will never see a truly stable, prosperous Middle East and the economic and political security that this would promise our neighbours until the Palestinian-Israeli situation is resolved.
Driven by this idea, Europe stepped back from centuries of conflict to find new ways to resolve differences and move ahead. Your Parliament has been at the epicentre of that achievement. You have built bridges where others might provoke division. You have helped understanding triumph over stereotypes. In the midst of calls for isolation, you have reached out in partnership throughout Europe and beyond. It is no exaggeration to suggest that today you have no more important partners than the countries of the southern Mediterranean.
This leads me to our third challenge: ending the conflict and ending it now. It is 35 years to the day that ceasefire lines in the 1967 war left Israel in control of the West Bank and thousands of innocent Palestinians without their freedom. Since then decades of negotiations have written their sorry record across the history books. We have seen steps forward, even some important achievements. Still, we do not have peace. In the meantime generations on both sides have been born into conflict. The situation dangerously heightens the frustration of people tired of war, occupation and economic deprivation. This ugly wound holds back progress in the Middle East and inflames extremism throughout the world. The time has come for genuine peace – a peace that resonates with both Palestinians and Israelis. Now more than ever, people need to see results, real security, viable independence and a future of hope. Getting there requires us to focus sharply on the ultimate goals and principles of peace and a planning process that sets a reasonable timeframe for those goals to be met. I believe the parameters of the solutions are there. At the recent Arab summit in Beirut, Arab states articulated a new vision for peace. This initiative explicitly recognises the interests of Israel, while it fulfils Palestinian hopes to live freely without occupation in a sovereign state that encompasses the borders of the West Bank and Gaza with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The Arab vision is strongly balanced. Through a collective peace treaty with Arab states, Israel would receive the security guarantees it needs; Israel's Jewish character, security, legitimacy, international recognition, Arab acceptance and a peaceful future would all be positively addressed. But, at the same time, Arab states would have their core requirements met: an end to Israeli occupation of all Arab lands, a guarantee of independence, freedom, dignity, equality and security for the Palestinians, and a just and agreed solution to the refugee question. Through this initiative, Arabs address Israeli citizens as neighbours who deserve to live in dignity, security and peace. Israel's government cannot ignore this proposal.
However, I know that success will also require international action. The fact is that, given present conditions, neither Israelis nor Palestinians are capable of taking the steps needed to reach a reasonable final compromise. We must not allow the process to become hostage to the whims of those who choose to obstruct peace.
Today we urgently need Europe to take a leadership role. Last month in the United States we called for a new peace alliance for the Middle East. Under its umbrella, an international coalition composed of the United States, Europe, Russia, and Arab and other countries would provide the support and security, in economic and political terms, that is needed by both Israelis and Palestinians. The alliance would have the moral and political leadership to broker a comprehensive, fair and lasting deal. Only this can persuade wary people on both sides to trust the road for peace.
My friends, this Parliament has an important part to play. Your history in breaking through centuries-old conflicts can provide a model for those who are trapped in today's cycle of violence.
You have the experience and the infrastructure to solve problems through dialogue and interaction – assets that can help others learn new ways to handle the differences that separate them. Perhaps most importantly, as representatives of the people you are close to those whose future is most at stake. For who would benefit more from world peace and prosperity and who suffers more from world violence than the people? Those who doubt that we will succeed, I refer once more to the father of Europe, Jean Monnet: "When one has decided one's objective it is necessary to act without making assumptions about the risk of not succeeding. As long as you have not tried a thing, you cannot say it is impossible."
Our relationship recognises millennia of shared experience and mutual interests. My region is the birthplace of our common history, including the three great monotheistic religions. For centuries we have joined with Europe in what the renowned historian Fernand Braudel termed 'overlapping civilisations'. Trade, scholarship, discovery, cultural exchange: in these and countless other ways, today's world was built upon the many shoulders of our many peoples.
To this day, our destinies are deeply intertwined through common social, economic and political realities. We share the promise of the 21st century and we share its risks and dangers as well. The urgent need of development, the evils of terrorism, the threat of weapons of mass destruction, the occupation of Palestine – these problems affect us all. We have a choice: we can go forward together to find solutions, to strengthen development, to increase understanding and to end conflict, or we can allow events and crises to overtake and defeat us. It is clear what choice this House would make. Indeed, if anyone doubts how important your work is, let me invite you to consider what the aftermath of 11 September might have been without your leadership.
At a time when the enemies of our historic friendship were poised to take advantage of confusion and fear, the venues you created enabled our nations to work in solidarity against terrorism and prejudice. You spoke out clearly and forcefully against targeting innocent Arab and Muslim peoples. You expressed a commitment to a world of toleration, understanding and mutual progress.
My friends, I come here today to thank your Parliament for all it has done to contribute to a future of peace and prosperity for all our peoples. I join you here to talk about what we must do to meet the challenges that lie ahead. For there are serious challenges and it will take all our efforts together to meet them.
Our first great challenge is to keep up our guard against complacency. As the horrors of 11 September fade and daily life goes on, it can be all too easy to fall back on group labels and old misconceptions. Let us renew our pledge: we must never allow opportunists to provoke a war of civilisations."@en1
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