Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-05-22-Speech-2-246"
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"en.20070522.25.2-246"2
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".
Madam President, I have to say I am still in a bit of a state of shock over the words of the representative of the Council. I do not understand how he can say that the new unity government does not fulfil the criteria of the Quartet. Our delegation has just come back from the region and all of us unanimously agreed that they had.
Yes, there are still some Qassam rockets which of course are to be condemned. But do you really think that, by refusing to fully engage with the government, the EU is helping bring that back under control? Do you really think it has got nothing to do with the economic and political stranglehold in which Israel holds Gaza?
You mention the detention of soldier Shalit – and of course he should be released – but you did not even mention the 41 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council who are still detained by Israel; you did not even mention the detention of 10 000 Palestinian political prisoners held by Israel, many without trial. So, let us have some balance in this debate.
By refusing to fully recognise the new unity government and by channelling aid via a temporary international mechanism rather than through the Palestinian Authority, the EU is actively undermining the authority and the apparatus of Palestine’s democratic institutions. And, even worse than that, our position is actually encouraging those elements both inside and outside Palestine which want this government to fail. Every day that goes by when we refuse to engage fully with this government is another day for the extremists to say, ‘Look: democracy is not working. We did everything the international community demanded – democratic elections, a new unity government, fulfilling the Quartet demands, and still we face a political and economic boycott. So, why on earth are we helping to bring about a democratically-elected government which is doing its best to keep the peace?’
Is that really what we want? Do not imagine that the alternative will be a slightly different government whose colours we like slightly better. The alternative will be chaos and violence on an unimaginable scale, the whole region will become destabilised and there will be even more rapid growth of extremism across the Middle East.
Because, while the Council adopts a wait-and-see policy to review how the new government performs, each day it waits it puts the very outcome it wants to see in ever greater jeopardy. There is a very real danger that in a few years’ time we will look back at this moment and think, ‘Why on earth did we not support democracy in Palestine when we had the chance?’
So to the Council I say please tell us again what the Palestinian Government has to do, and to the Commission I ask, when will you suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement?"@en1
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