Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-09-27-Speech-2-627-000"
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"Madam President, can I just say to Honourable Members that we have seen the debate laid out before us. If you add up all the different views expressed in this House, you will find that they reflect, and are reflected in, many of the conversations that I have had, not just in the European Union, but with many other countries as well.
I said in the UN when I met with the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee under the chairmanship of Norway – to whom I pay great tribute – that I felt this was a good investment of our resources, because you can see what our money and our support has actually built and achieved. I think that we should be proud to be investing in the work of Prime Minister Fayyad. As I say, I pay tribute to him.
We have to make sure that everything that we are doing on this is actually going to help to lead to the results. That is why I have been working with the Israeli Government, the Palestinian Authority, the Arab League, the United States, Canada, Russia, and the UN especially – because I agree with what has been said about the value and importance of the UN in all this. I could not agree more. I think the United Nations are critical to all this, but what matters is what we are actually able to achieve. The point about what we did in the Quartet statement was that we laid out a timeframe and invited the parties to now come together in that timeframe. There are issues that they will have to resolve, which is why we suggested they pre-meet. There are issues that the Quartet envoys will need to discuss, which is why they will pre-meet with the parties, but the objective is to get this thing moving.
I understand the frustration in this House. I have only been doing this for up to two years. I can tell you that I have spent more time on this than on anything else I have done. I have to tell you that, today, I am actually as worried, if not more so, about what is happening in the north of Kosovo, as you would expect me to be. It is really important that whatever we do finds a conclusion that is really going to last. I am not going to do something that is just rhetoric. I am much more interested in a solution that is going to be for real.
Of course, when they come to negotiate, they will have to tackle all these issues in the conclusions. Of course, incidentally, we believe in the International Criminal Court. That has never been discussed as part of a conclusion of negotiations – nothing of that kind – but we do need to make sure that we actually get that. I will continue to do that, based on the fact that I am also trying to carry 27 Member States along the road with me.
It is really important to understand how much the unity of the European Union on this subject is valued in the region, not just in Israel, not just with the Palestinian people and the Israeli people, but with the Arab League and with the countries in the region. They really want to see us stick together and see that happen for real. You will understand that that means that I also have to be alive to the starting points, the history, the culture and the connections that all 27 countries have. I am sensitive to that.
It is an achievement for the European Union that we are still together. We are continuing to work to stay there, because what we offer, united in this process, is much more than radical positions on either end of the spectrum, or even the bulk of countries coming together in the middle. It is the fact that we are 27 speaking with one voice and one message that makes a big difference, but it is not easy. We have to work at this and keep working at it. That is why your support today is so important, because it enables me to take that away.
I have said enough on this. Let me just say one or two things about other countries because, rightly so, honourable Members raised one or two other issues. Mr Fox raised the issue of Yemen. I agree on the importance of working hard with the GCC. I mentioned that we coordinated our statements on Yemen very carefully. There is calm at the moment, but I am worried about some outbreaks of violence that have gone on in the last few days. We urge President Saleh to continue with the process and to make sure that the work that is being carried out by his Vice-President can come forward.
On Libya, as you know, we have had teams going to Tripoli. We have a team there at the present time that is setting up the long-term operation. On the specific issue of borders, we are launching a dialogue on migration, mobility and security with Tunisia and Morocco. We are ready to do the same with Libya. That specifically brings in this point on migration and mobility – not just on security, although, of course, that is very important.
Women are full of hope in the region. We have to make sure that we do not let them down. One of the key elements of the discussions in New York was women coming together to try to make sure that we are able to offer the support of the capacity building programmes already in place in Libya. Looking after women who are victims in all of this violence – and there are many of them – and also ensuring the participation of women right the way through the system is a huge issue that is of incredible importance to me.
Finally, regarding the issues of rules and conditionality, Stefan Füle has set out very well many times in this House the point about ‘more for more’. This is the idea that we make sure that reform is met with greater support, but also this mutual accountability of ensuring that we have respect for each other in what we do, that we do what we say we are going to do on both sides, and that we deliver what we say we are going to deliver to help support these communities into the future. Then, of course, there is the coordination which is so important, between not just the different European institutions, but also the Member States. In Libya, that is going to be really important if we are going to be able to offer the support that we want to.
Let us start where we agree. We agree that there should be a Palestinian state. Everybody supports that, including Israel. I agree with all of you who have said that it is important to see a Palestinian state come into being as soon as possible. The question is how to support the Palestinian state into being in a way that will bring long-term peace and security to its people and to the people of Israel, who will be its neighbours next door.
Madam President, thank you for indulging me on time. Honourable Members, thank you very much for an important debate.
I would argue that we are discussing the question of how – not if, not whether, not any other question, but how – to make sure that is achieved. It has been the view of the European Union, the view of this House and the view of Member States for a long time that the most effective way to ensure long-term stability and security for the people of Israel and the people of Palestine is through an agreement between the two on borders, on security, on the rights of refugees, on the issue of Jerusalem, on all of the issues that are very familiar to everybody here.
That is what I am determined upon. I am determined upon reality. I am determined upon making sure that the desire of the people, the desire of President Abbas and Prime Minister Fayyad, is achieved and is achieved in a way that they can be sure is going to bring that peace and security to them and to the region. That is what drives me and what motivates me to work with the Member States, to work with you, to work with my colleagues in the Commission, and to work internationally with the Quartet and – way beyond the Quartet – with many countries with whom I have discussed this issue, not just in New York last week, but over the past two years.
I want to be clear about one thing, namely about settlements. I have condemned it every time a settlement announcement has been made – six times this year from me, plus one local one and one Quartet one. I have checked the numbers. The announcement that was made today is an announcement of the continuation of a series of legal moves following on from an announcement that was made in 2009. I said earlier on that I deeply regretted that, having condemned that original announcement, we have now seen a move further forward. We have made that position clear, not just in this House, but also to the Israeli Government.
Can I also say that, instead of shouting about it – which is very easy to do, perhaps without listening for the response that you get – I say this to Prime Minister Netanyahu directly. Each time I have met him – and I have met him many times – I have made it clear that we consider settlements to be illegal under international law, and that he should stop announcing them and, more importantly, stop building them. I do not accept, I am afraid, what is said to me that somehow, by not using a particular word, I have moved away from my commitment, because I am the one who, on your behalf, is saying it to the person who has the power to make the difference. I will continue to do so in every conversation, not just because it is wrong.
I think that it is wrong to get people to live in a place from which, when you look at a negotiated settlement, they are probably going to have to move. That does not make any sense, to me, for the people who are moving into that area. It is not a good move if you believe – as I do – that we have to reach a conclusion and a settlement for this conflict that is going to be based upon – as we have said consistently – the 1967 borders, with agreements on moving bits of land around, but which give the Palestinians a viable contiguous state. That is going to mean that there will have to be changes. It is therefore in the interests of all the people of Israel and Palestine to get there and make sure that where people move and where people live is somewhere they can live for the rest of their lives if they choose to.
I also want to make it clear that I have said to Israel that I do believe in President Abbas and Prime Minister Fayyad. They have people with whom they can be proud to negotiate. I believe that President Abbas and Prime Minister Fayyad, who I have had the privilege to get to know over the last two years, are people who hold the values that we hold dear in their heart. I believe that they want to see a democratic Palestine, based on the rule of law and the values of human rights. I believe that Israel could do no better than to negotiate with them. I have also said that directly to Prime Minister Netanyahu, to Foreign Minister Lieberman and to other members inside and outside the Israeli Government and in the Knesset. I will continue to keep saying that, because I believe it to be true.
I have said many times that I think that the work that Prime Minister Fayyad has done has been remarkable in that, according not to me but to the World Bank and other institutions, he has completed the building of the institutions that will create the state of Palestine and will enable them to be able to function as a state – an important element if they are going to become a country, in the very near future I hope. I was fortunate enough to go with Prime Minister Fayyad to lay the foundation stone in Jenin, a town that has seen a lot of conflict but where they are rebuilding the architecture of the government buildings and which we, as the European Union, are privileged to be able to fund."@en1
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