Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-04-05-Speech-3-175"
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"en.20060405.17.3-175"2
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".
Firstly, I should like to thank the many speakers here for their total support for our attempts to continue the peace process. Even in this very difficult time we have to try to do everything we can. However, the primary responsibility rests with the two parties and we – the international community – have to support them in following this path. I reiterate that it has to be a negotiated – not a unilateral – solution and I think that has been made very clear.
We again call on Israel to stop and to reverse the construction of the separation barrier inside the occupied Palestinian territories, including in and around East Jerusalem.
We all agree that it is important for Hamas to respect the three conditions; it has to renounce violence, recognise the existence of the State of Israel and stand by existing agreements made by former governments. It is also highly important that the international Quartet remain united. This will not always be easy, but we will try to stay united as much as we can.
Secondly, humanitarian aid is absolutely necessary. In past analyses we have seen that more or less half of our aid has gone to the various possibilities for humanitarian aid, not through the Palestinian Authority. Therefore this aid will continue through the United Nations organisations and international organisations. We will find ways to do that through NGOs but we will also have to review our position and find some alternative mechanisms. We are working on this. However, since this is a very difficult question, we will have to see precisely what we can do.
It also has to be made absolutely sure – and this is what we have to find out – that our aid will not go to the terrorists. Therefore, we have to find the right balance, which is not easy.
Naturally, we also have to support Mahmoud Abbas. He is the interlocutor at present. The possibility is there, so we have to try to reinforce his office as much as we can, but again, please be patient as we are still working on the details.
Russia has clearly stated that when it met Hamas, it kept within the framework of our Quartet statement of 30 June. The Russians said it was important to talk with Hamas in order to get it into the right line even before the government was formed. Unfortunately, we have heard that Hamas has not fulfilled all the conditions, although here and there a few first steps have been taken.
Let me also say a few words on East Jerusalem. We are particularly concerned about settlement activities and the construction of the separation barrier in and around East Jerusalem, which endangers the contiguity of a future Palestinian State and also threatens to vastly complicate the final status negotiations. Any agreement on the city’s status must be negotiated by the two parties and should not be pre-empted by new factors on the ground, as I said before. Statements by the Council and by the Quartet have made that abundantly clear.
We are ready to assist the parties as appropriate, if requested. The first step by Israel should be to end discrimination against Palestinians in the cities. There are quite a number of these factors.
Concerning the separation barrier, the European Union has stated on numerous occasions that, while fully recognising the right of Israel to protect its citizens against terrorist attacks, it is particularly concerned by the route marked out for the separation barrier in the occupied West Bank, which significantly departs from the Green Line, unjustly confiscates Palestinian land and severely curtails movement and access."@en1
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