Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-10-22-Speech-3-235"
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"en.20031022.9.3-235"2
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"Mr President, in the explanatory statement to his report, Mr Menéndez del Valle says that in relation to the Israel/Palestine conflict too many debates have been held in this Parliament and too many reports adopted. I wonder, therefore, what the point of the report is and whether it is really helpful, particularly as it does not take a truly detached position, as we have heard from the rapporteur already this evening.
In fairness, though, through amendment in committee it is now more balanced than it was. Its theme is the call for urgent implementation of the Road Map, a point on which we can all agree. But I have difficulty with the rapporteur's frequent insistence on a greater role for the European Union. He proposes introduction of the euro, an international mandate in Palestine and deployment of an international force on the ground. There seems to be some indecent haste in trying to invent roles for putative EU-badged military forces, which is all part of some other agenda and little to do with the Middle East peace process.
We should recall that United Nations monitoring and observer forces have been in the Middle East for 50 years and they have singularly failed to prevent either conflict or terrorism. The experience is that an international force does not secure peace but provides cover for its violation. Let us not forget that this area of the Middle East was under a mandate, a League of Nations mandate, for some 26 years, from 1922. It was then the United Nations which divided the area into a Jewish state and an Arab state. The fundamental problem is that, with the honourable exception of Egypt and Jordan, the Arab and other states of the greater Middle East have refused to recognise the existence of the state of Israel. A key element of phase III of the Road Map is Arab state acceptance of full normal relations with Israel. This is long overdue, and Iran needs to be there as well.
Arab states have also, along with the United Nations, helped institutionalise the Palestine refugee question, so that it has provided fuel for hatred, instability and terrorism for over 50 years. Unrealistic expectations are still being kept alive. The UN Relief and Works Agency began providing the basics of life for Palestinian refugees in 1950 and now has over 4 million on its books. Why in the name of humanity have the Arab states allowed this situation to persist?"@en1
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