Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-04-21-Speech-3-057"
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"en.20040421.2.3-057"2
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"Mr President, today, Mordechai Vanunu is to be released. He is one of the heroes of our time, the man who confirmed that Israel has significant stocks of nuclear weapons that could turn the whole of the Middle East into a nuclear desert. For this achievement in the service of peace, his reward was to be kidnapped by the State of Israel and sentenced to 18 years’ imprisonment.
The surrounding world largely forgot him. Israel is allowed to possess its nuclear weapons in peace, while Arab and Muslim states that attempt to obtain protection for themselves against the threat of Israel’s nuclear weapons are bombed to smithereens and destroyed. Why does the world community not intervene in regard to Israeli nuclear weapons? Why does the same not happen to Dimona as happened to Ossirak?
The unbalanced approach on the part of the world community is one of the reasons for the despair that now prevails in the Middle East, a feeling confirmed here in Parliament yesterday by two of the area’s foremost peace campaigners, Abraham Burg and Yassir Rabo. In
Egypt’s President Mubarak stated that hatred of the United States in the Arab world has never at any time been as strong as it is today. The United States backs Israel 100%. For that reason, the United States cannot bring about peace on its own. A better balance is needed, and the EU could bring this about by backing the Palestinians as strongly as the United States backs Israel.
The EU could translate its words into deeds and implement Parliament’s call for the association agreement with Israel to be suspended. The EU could despatch troops to protect Palestinian areas. The EU could demand that Israel dismantle its stocks of nuclear weapons. The EU could issue an invitation to Vanunu and grant him asylum in the EU country of his choosing.
The EU could go still further. Some years ago, I met Shimon Perez. He proposed that both Israel and Palestine should be offered EU membership, on condition that they had achieved a stable peace. Clearly, the EU has an attraction beyond its borders that it does not always have among its own Member States. Let us make use of the fact. Offer EU membership to Palestine and Israel as a reward for achieving a definitive peace."@en1
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