Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-06-16-Speech-3-404"
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"Mr President, first of all, what is very clear to me in listening to this debate is the significance of our call for a credible inquiry. Honourable Members have different pieces of information, perhaps take different views, but what I am very clear about is that a situation arose which left nine people dead and families and friends who are grieving. Whatever the circumstances, it is enormously important that we have an inquiry in which we can believe and we look forward to seeing where the proposals now take us.
Honourable Members know very well the specifics and the detail of what needs to be addressed but, from my visits not only to Israel and Palestine but within the region, I genuinely feel it is incredibly important to move ahead now, while the world’s attention is on the situation, to try and ease the problems in Gaza. I believe this will contribute to what every Member of this House wants, which is a long-term sustainable peace that will allow ordinary people to get on with the lives that they value, to bring up their children, and to have the benefits of the kind of lives that we take for granted.
The second thing that I am very clear about is that honourable Members want to make sure that we are in contact with all our different key partners in deciding what we do next. I can confirm that I am touch with Turkey and have been from the first day. I am talking to Israel – I spoke to the Foreign Minister again yesterday; to the Palestinian Authority – I spoke to President Abbas today; to Egypt – I have already been in touch with them, and their Foreign Minister will come to Brussels to see me on Friday. Over the weekend, I discussed this and other issues with Secretary of State Clinton and, of course, with the Quartet envoy, Tony Blair, whom I have been in touch with every few hours, as he has been travelling to and from Israel three times in the last week, sending messages via him. We discussed this, of course, at our summit with Russia, as I indicated earlier, and we discussed this with all 27 Member States in a long session at the Foreign Affairs Council on Monday. So we are all engaged in this dialogue which is incredibly important in terms of how we move forward.
The third point I wanted to make is the importance of the politics of all of this and recognising what I was trying to say earlier about the ambitions that we have. I want to see a secure Israel living in peace. I have called, on every occasion, for the release of Corporal Shalit. Like honourable Members, I met his father here in Strasbourg not long ago.
But I am also very clear, having visited Gaza, as honourable Members have done too, that the future security of the region depends in part on the ability of the people of Gaza to live an ordinary life; to have that miracle of being able to put down roots and live and support themselves economically and educationally and to have the capacity to work and travel as ordinary people do. Eighty per cent of people in Gaza rely on food which is provided by the international community; most of that through the European Union. A large number of children are not in school, a large number of people are not in work. When I was there, I visited and talked with members of civil society, businesses and human rights’ organisations, who spent time with me discussing what their needs should be. I am absolutely certain that the security of the region, of Israel, depends on what can now be done to move forward.
So I have focused my work, as I hope honourable Members would agree I should, on what we can actually do. I can talk, but what can we actually do? We have worked very carefully and closely, through the Quartet and directly, to try and support the changing of the list from the 112 goods being allowed in, as I think it was yesterday, to a list simply of those prohibited goods which need to be stopped in order to make sure that Israel is secure.
I hope we will see progress on that, possibly even today. It would be enormously significant of itself when one considers the enormous amount of goods which are simply not let in: flour is let in but not pasta; sweets are not let in, chocolate is not allowed in; fruit but not dried fruit. We can make a significant difference to the everyday life of people by changing that list.
We are looking too at the different crossings, and honourable Members will, like me, have studied the maps in recent times. How do we make sure that we are able to do this? Yes, we have had a mission to support the crossing at Rafah, which was for people only. This has not been operational but we have kept people on the ground. I have been talking with those in charge of that mission. If you look at Kerem Shalom or Karni, there are perhaps opportunities there too to be able to open the crossings. Again, those of you who have studied them will know that Karni is easiest for goods but Kerem Shalom is probably the one most likely to be opened first.
In other words, we are trying to make sure that we put on the table and that we work to provide serious opportunities for the European Union: making sure that the crossings do start to open, keeping security for Israel, providing goods and enabling people to live their ordinary lives.
The final thing that I wanted to say is that all of this is against a backdrop of supporting the proximity talks which are being led by Senator Mitchell. In all my discussions, I have been encouraging those who are engaged with them to move forward with the proximity talks to real talks this year, in order to try and resolve the issues."@en1
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