Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-01-26-Speech-3-114"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20050126.7.3-114"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, a lot of attention deserves to be given over the next few months to the situation in the Middle East. Sunday’s election in Iraq will be exciting – a perhaps historic opportunity for a nascent democracy. I should like to say thank you to Mr Solana and the Commissioner for their constructive and perceptive contributions. It is good to hear such commitment expressed. The election in Palestine and the new government in Israel offer new hope. Ariel Sharon must, however, help Mahmoud Abbas be successful, for otherwise there is no way forward in the process.
I was myself on an observation visit to the West Bank in November and saw with my own eyes how terrible and desperate the situation is there, especially for the many Palestinians who at present live below the poverty line and under incredibly difficult conditions because of the Israeli occupation. It is a poverty created not by natural disasters or such like but by the Israeli occupation. Israel’s right to hunt down terrorists must of course be recognised, and the Palestinians must also do everything they can to bring the violence to an end. Israel’s right to hunt down terrorists does not, however, mean that every possible means has to be used. The illegal executions, the house demolitions and the excessive use of power in relation to civilians is unacceptable. The illegally erected security wall also constitutes a special problem because it has been predominantly erected on Palestinian land and makes it impossible for the Palestinians to cultivate the land in these areas. Jerusalem, where Palestinians are separated not from Israelis but from each other, is also a special problem. The major expropriation of land, combined with the settlements policy, makes it difficult to see how a sustainable Palestinian State might be established. It is particularly worrying to see how a double infrastructure is in the process of being developed on the West Bank. The facts on the ground show that the occupation now has more to do with creating secure conditions for the many settlers than with creating security for Israeli citizens living in Israel.
The EU must demand of Israel that it cease developing settlements on the West Bank and stop constructing the security wall. Otherwise, the opportunity for a two-state solution will have been missed."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples