Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-06-19-Speech-2-009"
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"en.20070619.4.2-009"2
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".
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I believe that our Parliament was right to alter the agenda in order to deal with the Middle East situation. Unfortunately, I am very doubtful as to whether our debate will help in the quest for a solution to the conflict, but we clearly had to hold it all the same.
Just a few days ago in Brussels we held a debate on the situation in the Middle East with the High representative and Commissioner Ferrero in which we recognised the fortieth anniversary of the Six Day War, during which Israel invaded Gaza, the West Bank and the Golan Heights.
Today, 40 years later, we must accept that the situation is still in deadlock – as the French press reminded us yesterday – that it has not been possible to create a Palestinian State and that, unfortunately, there are effectively two governments in conflict with each other. Furthermore, there is an extremely serious political, economic, social and humanitarian crisis.
You were asking, Mr President, what the international community in general, and the European Union in particular, can do, and what we clearly have to do, firstly, is support Mahmoud Abbas and the moderate government of Salam Fayas, the destiny of which is not just to be the government of the West Bank, but also of Gaza.
We must also lift the international blockade – as you also pointed out, Mr President – imposed on Palestine since Hamas won the elections. We must therefore welcome the decision taken yesterday by the General Affairs Council to restore direct aid to the Palestinian National Authority, and we hope that the meeting that is to be held today in Washington between the President of the United States and the Israeli Prime Minister will take us in the same direction. It is also time, Mr President, for Israel to transfer the sums owed to Palestine in customs duties.
While these are all necessary conditions, however, Mr President, they are clearly not sufficient, since we all know that the situation in Gaza is still one of violence and that, in reality, in the difficult equation of war and peace, progress can only be made in the Middle East through the renunciation of violence as a means of political action, through the recognition of the State of Israel and through any actions, such as the release of the British journalist Alan Johnston, that may contribute to the objective of peace.
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, we are all political men and women in this House, and we are perfectly aware that the highest of the political values is unity and that, without unity, it will not be possible to realise the dream of a viable Palestinian State living in peace with its neighbours.
Mr President, as you have pointed out quite rightly, it is time for the guns to fall silent so that dialogue can prevail and peace can be consolidated, and it falls to the European Union, together with other players such as the United Nations or the Arab League or other members of the Quartet, to mobilise all of its efforts in order to contribute, intelligently and generously, in a manner that is consistent with its tradition and it values and, from the point of view of humanitarian aid, naturally, to a fair and lasting peace in the Middle East."@en1
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