Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-09-24-Speech-3-184"
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"en.20030924.3.3-184"2
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"Mr President, two weeks ago a London newspaper convened a meeting between senior journalists from Israel and Palestine, the first of its kind since before the current intifada.
The roadmap, of which the European Union was the chief cartographer, recognises this, and my Group remains firmly committed to its implementation.
A number of participants, from both sides, expressed the belief that theirs was, in effect, a 'twenty-second century conflict': a war that would last a hundred years, blighting the lives of their grandchildren's children. A conflict that has the capacity to exhaust the optimism of the best of us once again demands deeper reserves of patience and commitment.
But grim as the situation is, we cannot afford to despair. If the two sides have strayed from the roadmap's path of peace and reconciliation, we must coax them back.
The European Union must continue to play a crucial role in the search for peace in the Middle East. Greater engagement with Israel might help in this. Making peace also requires a strong, functioning and accountable Palestinian Authority. That is why the Union has spent more than EUR 300 million since 2000 to keep the Palestinian Authority in business. An effective and legitimate Palestinian Authority is essential to dismantle the terrorist organisations. The Palestinians also need a strong voice to negotiate with Israel. The European Union must step up its support for financial reform of the Authority to help it distance itself from terrorism.
We have also provided more than EUR 30 million for the vital work of Palestinian municipalities in providing basic public services, because that is how you fight despair – with clean water and classrooms; with the promise of normality and peace.
We may regret Yasser Arafat's intransigence, but we should remember that if the Palestinians voted tomorrow in the fair and transparent elections we would like to see, they would probably choose him again as their leader. The surest way to ensure that outcome would be for Israel to make a martyr out of him. Arafat's place in the peace process is not for us to determine, any more than it is for Israel or for the United States.
However, we can have no truck with terrorism. That is why my Group welcomes the inclusion of Hamas in the European list of terrorist organisations. Suicide bombings have taken an unbearable toll in Israeli lives, and the political apologists for terror cannot receive support while the killing continues.
Both sides have to realise that there can be no military solution to this conflict. Israel's extra-judicial killings must end, as they will only breed more terrorists, not force the Palestinians to negotiate. Israel must withdraw its forces from the Occupied Territories, and the settlement building must stop.
Two states, living side by side in peace – that is the only viable solution. Israel's existence as a Jewish state and as a democracy demands a Palestinian state. The alternatives are Palestinian apartheid or the inexorable demographic eclipse of Israel's character as a Jewish homeland."@en1
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