Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-06-16-Speech-3-358"
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"en.20100616.27.3-358"2
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"Mr President, Madam High Representative, I believe that, within this Chamber, everyone agrees that we must condemn the attack on the flotilla that was trying to break the Gaza blockade. I believe that everyone agrees that Israeli policy, such as it exists, as it is being established or resuming what it has done for years, will lead and is leading Israel into a hole from which it will be difficult for that state to extricate itself.
We all agree. The problem now is how to effect a change in that policy. You said yourself that we must continue to work towards reconciliation or, shall we say, towards an agreement between the Palestinian forces, which you call groups. I myself prefer to call them forces.
We should add one thing: whether we like it or not – and I for one do not like it – the authority in Gaza is no longer the Palestinian National Authority, it is Hamas. We could have dreamt of something else, but in politics, reality does not always allow us to dream. Therefore, we must now find ways of breaking the blockade and the mental blockade that exists in our minds, in the minds of the Israelis, and perhaps also in the minds of the Palestinians.
I would like to propose one thing. You said: ‘We must lift the blockade’. Not only Rafah. We must open all the entry points. The European Union must, can and is demanding that it control its entry points. With whom? Well, with the Turkish army for example. Personally – and I am being a touch ironic here – I would happily see German and Turkish soldiers controlling Gaza entry points together so that food and construction materials get in but weapons do not.
Let us go further. Let us work towards lifting the blockade. We are not asking for it; let us provide ourselves with the instruments to lift this blockade.
I would now like to continue speaking in German, because it is always said that many people in Germany and in Europe have a guilty conscience about Israel. I would like to say to you that a guilty conscience does not produce policies. If we want to have a clear conscience and support Israel, we must say to Israel that current events go beyond the bounds of what is acceptable.
Israel’s friends are also its critics. The people who are not now prepared to criticise Israel cannot call themselves its friends. We must follow people like David Crossman, who has rightly said inside Israel that what Israel has done is in fundamental conflict with the reason for establishing the state of Israel. The current policy is one which does not want to realise the Israeli Zionist dream, but is, in fact, destroying it. Therefore, we in Europe must not be afraid of criticising the Israelis and the Palestinians. We must not be afraid of saying that we need new stability in the region. We will only achieve this new stability if we, as Europeans, are prepared to act as a force for mediation and order. If we do not do that, there will be no order in the region.
Therefore, I would ask you not just to call for change, but also to make proposals as to how we Europeans can work together with Turkey, which is an important power in the region, to take concrete measures to bring this blockade to an end."@en1
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