Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-09-07-Speech-3-153"
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"en.20050907.18.3-153"2
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"Mr President, I should like to thank Mr Alexander for his presence here this afternoon, together with Mr Verheugen, whom I left in plenary last night at 11.47 p.m. and who has covered a lot of ground this part-session in Strasbourg.
To turn to more serious matters now, in January, the EU High Representative, Mr Solana, spoke to us about a window of opportunities, and better still, an avenue of hope, following a series of developments in the region which included, of course, the election of Mahmoud Abbas as President and his courageous remarks about the demilitarisation of the Intifada.
What followed did not prove him wrong, as it has just led, as we know, to the disengagement from the Gaza Strip. Whatever may be our opinion on this withdrawal, however we may be divided
and there is division on this issue
we cannot but congratulate the Israeli authorities on the way in which they have carried out this operation; this is a human tragedy for the families concerned, a heartbreaking experience for the soldiers and a crucial test for Israeli society as a whole, which some people are underestimating in a slightly underhand manner. An absence of violence, of victims and of civil war, too, is a success story for which the Palestinian Authority can also take credit. Mr Abbas has spared no effort to facilitate the operations and, above all, to prevent any terrorist attack during the entire period of disengagement.
At this point, you will ask me: what must be done? It is a question of turning this military success into a political success, of harnessing this positive energy in order to return to the road map, since the withdrawal from Gaza can only be the start of a process. The major challenges awaiting Ariel Sharon as well as Mahmoud Abbas are on a huge scale: an end to the settlements, more substantial withdrawals, particularly on the part of the Israelis, and, of course, for the Palestinian leader the disarmament of the terrorist organisations. Following the destruction of a building in Gaza on Monday and the assassination of his security advisor only this morning, Abu Mazen has just demanded
scarcely a few hours ago
a plan for disarming Hamas in Gaza.
We must provide him with the means to continue; we are all aware that the battle has begun between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas for control of Gaza and that the EUR 60 million that has just been released – and which the Commissioner has spoken about – will be a vital strategic support for the Palestinian leader. We thank the Commission, we rely on it and we will be particularly vigilant, I wish to say, in ensuring that stringent checks are carried out to reassure European taxpayers about how this significant sum of money is to be appropriated.
‘There is a time to kill, and a time to heal, a time for war and a time for peace’, those are not my words, they are in the Ecclesiastes; I was talking about hope just now, not naïve optimism. Yet, we are today experiencing a very special moment in time
to quote Mr Solana – and we would like to see the parties concerned seize it with our help so as to progress along that road to peace."@en1
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"momentum"1
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