Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-12-03-Speech-3-136"
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"en.20081203.15.3-136"2
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".
Mr President, we asked in plenary for the vote to be deferred, and I am delighted about that, but, as rapporteur, I feel I need to explain myself.
I will take this opportunity – and I apologise, Mr President, you can deduct this time from my two minutes later – I will take this opportunity to condemn the political pressure, slanderous campaigns and accusations of anti-Semitism that have been levelled at Members who are simply standing up for peace and justice. I would also pay tribute to all our Jewish friends, both in Israel and elsewhere, these new righteous men who, in extremely difficult conditions, also want peace and call for compliance with international law. Let us work together to achieve this. We need to break the siege of Gaza, and taking a military approach to this, as I have heard recommended, would be pure madness.
As Mr Salafranca pointed out earlier, it is quite correct that, on 6 November, Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs adopted two proposals on Israel’s participation in Community programmes: one was an assent, and the other a resolution. Both proposals were adopted by a huge majority – the vote on the resolution was actually unanimous.
What did these texts contain, and what message did the Committee on Foreign Affairs wish to send Israel? The assent was positive: it agreed to Israel’s participation in the Community programme, given that it was already participating in the Seventh Framework Programme for Research, that its application related solely to the ‘innovation and technology’ programme, that all member countries of the neighbourhood policy are entitled to apply to participate, and thus that it constituted neither a special favour to Israel nor a reassessment of its political status.
The association agreements are based on respect for human rights. Members therefore wanted to provide a political framework for this assent in the form of a very decisive resolution calling for recognition of the interim association agreement between the European Union and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), for stronger control of and sanctions against imports of Israeli products from the occupied territories under the preferential importation scheme, and for the results of scientific cooperation to be used for civilian purposes. The Commission should produce an annual report enabling Parliament to assess compliance with these conditions. In short, the resolution was positive but firm, and was the result of long negotiations with the various parties, who have shown exemplary commitment to the compromise reached, for which I thank them.
So, why are we now hesitating, raising our fears and, ultimately, deferring the vote? Essentially, Mr President, because the humanitarian situation in Gaza has become intolerable. When the European Parliament’s delegation, of which I was a part, went to Gaza in early summer, the living conditions of the people there were already alarming; another delegation went to the occupied territories in November, and came back with exactly the same report. Nothing is moving, the situation is catastrophic, and the blockade, far from weakening Hamas, has radicalised it.
Three days ago, Louis Michel pointed out that the continued closure of Gaza’s crossing points was a form of collective punishment of Palestinian civilians, contrary to international humanitarian law: it was our own Commissioner who said that. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the agency that works with refugees in Gaza, has launched appeals for aid, as have Oxfam, Amnesty International
and a number of other NGOs that cannot even use the Erez crossing at the moment.
Just today, I learned that our Pegase instrument has completely stopped working in Gaza, that it can no longer guarantee energy supplies, that the salaries and pensions of officials in the Palestinian Authority are no longer being paid, and that payments to the poorest people have also been suspended. The UNRWA has also had to suspend its programme of aid to the poorest people in Gaza. This is unacceptable, Mr President, it cannot be tolerated, and it is why I, against my will, supported deferring this vote.
Right now, the political ‘upgrading’ of Israel is being discussed at Council level in a great rush and in complete obscurity; and it is precisely this opportunity for upgrading that, today, right now, stands out in the political context of the region and is earning us hundreds and hundreds of e-mails from citizens. The Council therefore needs to improve transparency concerning the debates currently in progress and to be answerable to the citizens of Europe.
For Parliament today, it is quite clear: we want humane living conditions for Palestinians and an end to the blockade of Gaza. This blockade is doing nothing to weaken Hamas, but causes intolerable suffering for innocent people, half of whom, by the way, voted for Fatah in the 2006 elections. That vote is, in fact, still valid. We are holding out our hand to Israel, but we will not give up the core values on which the European Union is built. The ball is now in Israel’s court."@en1
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