Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-04-26-Speech-3-083"
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"en.20060426.11.3-083"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, between Jerusalem and Maleh Adumin, an occupied territory since 1967, work has begun – today I believe – on building an Israeli police station, which has been paid for by the nationalist right with funds from a nationalist group. In return, an old police station located in Ras Al-Amud, in the centre of the Arab quarter of East Jerusalem, will be handed over.
Between 13 and 15 April, young people were killed, bombings took place in Gaza, 41 Palestinians were wounded and 10 homes were occupied by soldiers. I did not compile this list myself, it arrives every day, on a daily basis, from the European Commission in Jerusalem. There is nothing stopping anyone from knowing about it or looking at it.
In Gaza, the people are being bombed and starved, as you are only too well aware. In Gaza, the agreements that were made between the European Union and the Quartet in relation to Rafah and the Tul Karm crossing point to Rafah can be enforced by the European Union. The Tul Karm crossing point is closed, and the issue is not just a humanitarian one, and it is not just a matter of the Palestinians inside Gaza starving: the problem is one of freedom and democracy.
We must ask ourselves a question and then revert the terms. What should we be asking? We should not only be politely asking the Israeli Government to pay back customs monies, which were well and truly stolen, or to stop building the illegal wall.
We must push the Israeli Government, not just ask it to do something. We are continuing to demand, and rightly so in my view, that Hamas, for example, denounces violence, but we must also set store by the fact that Hamas has not carried out any violence for 18 months now and says that it wants to continue like that.
We have made demands, and Hamas has rejected them; but have we spoken to Hamas? Have any of you spoken to Hamas? They told us, the ones who went to Palestine, that we had not. No one has tried to talk to Hamas! It is really crucial that we do not appear as though we are collectively punishing the Palestinian population. For although projects have merely been suspended, the fact is that they are at a standstill. The European Commission in East Jerusalem has indicated that it will stop some project or other; it is the Palestinian population, not Hamas, that will suffer.
Basically, the Palestinians, like us, are divided: 235 000 people voted for Hamas and 213 000 for Al-Fatah and other parties. We must have the courage to admit the extent to which we are responsible for a policy that will come to nothing in the Middle East if we do not treat Israel and Palestine in the same way. It is really essential that we negotiate, just as many Israelis are saying, so let us also listen to those voices in Israel that are pleading for us to negotiate.
Let us try to understand what is happening in the Israeli Government: if a person such as Mr Liebermann, a racist and xenophobe, assumes power, what will we say? The European Union really can say and do more, if we are serious about having two peoples and two States, instead of what is happening now: one State that exists and another one that does not exist and is being constantly eroded."@en1
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