Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-09-06-Speech-3-173"
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"en.20060906.21.3-173"2
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"Mr President, Mr Tuomioja, Mrs Ferrero-Waldner, we have witnessed a tragic scenario this summer, which has ended in a bloodbath. More than 1 000 Lebanese people have been killed, the majority of whom were civilians, 1 000 000 people have been displaced, a country has been totally destroyed, its infrastructure is in ruins, a sea has been polluted, a farming industry has been poisoned and weapons that are probably illegal are still killing people today. This equates to a disaster for Lebanon and many wounds for Israel, in which there has fortunately been less damage done.
What is more, during this tragedy, a scandal erupted over the UN, paralysed by the United States, being unable to obtain an immediate ceasefire, because Israel needed to be given time to finish its work on the ground. The words have been subverted. A massacre of civilians is from now on called ‘a disproportionate and indiscriminate counterattack’. Invading a country equates to ‘fighting off a militia’. Killing a resistance movement is the same as ‘searching for a kidnapped soldier’, but no one is fooled. The war was brewing. We let it brew. It was planned. It is true that it involved many actors, such as Syria and Iran, but it also involved – sadly via Israel, which is a victim of the war - the United States, which is still experimenting with its disastrous concept of constructive imbalance in order to redesign the Middle East. This concept, which ended in failure in Iraq, has been applied once again and is showing its limitations.
In this instance, the conflict has deep roots. They are in Palestine, which is still under occupation and which is still waiting for a State of which half of the members of the government and of the democratically-elected legislative council are in prison. It is also in Palestine that a ceasefire is needed, and where a peacekeeping force is required. What is more, while the people of Lebanon were dying almost in front of the cameras, 250 Palestinians were losing their lives very quietly, under the occupation.
Nothing will be resolved in the Middle East if no solution is found to this conflict with the support of the entire international community, including the Arab countries, the Palestinians and, of course, Israel and the United States. I am grateful to France and to Italy for having pointed this out and also to the Finnish Presidency for having flown the European flag again, embarked on this path and begun negotiations with all of the actors, including Syria.
We earnestly desire an international peace conference. That is the European response to the US concept of destruction and constructive imbalance and it is, I might add, the only possible solution. We are relieved today, but a page has been turned. Europe will, of course, help rebuild Lebanon, but I defended in my group what you want, Mr Gollnisch, that is to say the notion of making those responsible for the destruction pay, not because we will have to claim back our money, but because this is a notion of justice and responsibility and because, without justice and without shouldering one’s responsibilities, there will be no peace in the Middle East."@en1
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