Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-10-10-Speech-3-133"
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"en.20071010.18.3-133"2
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"Mr President, civilians are the silent victims of any conflict and we have an obligation – indeed, a duty – to stand up and protect them, and to live up to the covenant of Noble Peace laureate Elie Wiesel ‘never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation’.
I welcome, therefore, the initiative of this House to debate the situation in Gaza and also welcome the call in the resolution to call upon Israel to fulfil its obligations and guarantee the flow of humanitarian assistance to Gaza.
But today we also need to ask some other questions. We need to start by asking ourselves, why is it that every time there is a movement towards peace, the violence intensifies? Why it is that every time the voices of reason in Israel and the Palestinian territories seek a resolution, there are terrorist groups to take up arms against peace? Why is the fear of a two-state solution, of Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace, so dreaded by some that they prefer to inflict pain and suffering on their own people?
Let us not shrink from admitting that responsibility for the dire situation of the people living in Gaza also lies squarely with Hamas, who oppose a settlement, who call for the destruction of a legitimate member of the United Nations and who fear peace and promote violence.
In 2005, 400 rockets were fired into Israel from Gaza. In 2006, 1 726 rockets were fired. In 2007, it was close to a thousand rockets. Many have died, hundreds have been injured and thousands evacuated. They are also civilians: men, women and children.
On 26 September, 54 mortars were fired from Gaza on the Sufa crossing terminal. The next day, the crossing points to which the Commissioner was referring – Erez and Karem Shalom – were targeted. Indeed, they were targeted because Hamas believes that closing those points fulfils their goal of increasing the suffering, and of people siding with Hamas. That is the wrong strategy.
Let us acknowledge that there are forces of terror and forces of fear in Gaza who seek to profit from the suffering of their own people."@en1
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