Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-02-11-Speech-3-123"
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"en.20040211.5.3-123"2
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"Madam President, I have to say that I am not particularly interested in entering into a debate on this wall of shame at the International Court of Justice. Clearly, this barrier is a moral outrage and a political mistake. I fear, however, we are running the risk of putting up a different kind of barrier. I feel we are creating a smokescreen by spending our time on this matter instead of exerting the pressure, force and political will required to really push the Israeli-Palestinian peace process forward.
This notorious barrier certainly does hinder the creation of a Palestinian state. Nevertheless, the existence of the settlements also makes the establishment of a viable state impossible. Further, the absence of any political will to act appropriately represents a far greater impediment to the creation of such a state.
I would like to take this opportunity to point out that a number of other significant smokescreens are also emerging. There is, for example, the recent announcement made by the Bush administration that it is preparing a grand plan to restructure the Arab-Islamic world and to bring it under the umbrella of Western security. Now it seems that extreme right-wingers in the US are referring to a great restructured Middle East as their main foreign policy priority. This, they say, will facilitate the ending of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
To be frank, I cannot take seriously a plan claiming to bring about democracy and prosperity from Morocco to Pakistan overnight. Rather, I think this plan is another attempt to distract public opinion in the run up to the November presidential elections. This same public opinion has now realised that President Bush’s electoral imperatives take priority over the supposed intentions to advance the Middle East peace process.
Furthermore, this supposed grand plan for the Middle East could make the Israel-Palestinian conflict appear less central. There seems to be a suggestion that the European Union be involved in the plan. It should be remembered that the European Union is a key player in the Barcelona process. This process will not succeed, at least not fully, until there is an end to the confrontation between Palestinians and Israelis.
The other smokescreen is the one currently being created by Prime Minister Sharon. The latter is forever announcing painful concessions he never implements. He has proved unable to remove the illegal settlements in the West Bank. I have in mind the small number of caravans scattered across a few hills on the West Bank. He is now saying that the Gaza townships will be abandoned. I am quite prepared to give Prime Minister Sharon the benefit of the doubt for the time being. It is to be hoped, however, that this grand plan does not turn out to involve relocating the Gaza settlers in the West Bank enclaves. The latter constitute the real impediment to the viability of the Palestinian State the Quartet hopes will be established."@en1
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