Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-10-10-Speech-3-117"
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"en.20071010.18.3-117"2
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"Mr President, I speak not on behalf of my group, but as a Member who has seen things he did not wish to see.
I hope the Minister does not believe the sanctimonious claptrap he read this House. To suggest for one moment that the policies of this European Union are impartial is just ridiculous. Everyone knows that we pursue a policy of double standards. We expect and demand the Palestinians to obey every requirement. We merely request that the Israelis meet our wishes.
Those double standards reek. Commissioner, do you remember standing here just a few months ago, after the Palestinian delegation had returned from meeting Mr Haniyeh in Gaza, before the breakdown of the Palestinian Unity Government, saying to this House that you wanted to do everything you could to support that Government? Within a fortnight, of course, it had fallen! It had fallen partly because we had refused to talk to the elected representatives. We had refused to talk to Mr Haniyeh and, not surprisingly, having undermined the democratic forces, the forces of violence took over.
We never seem to learn the lessons of history. We have to stop ignoring the wishes of the Palestinian people. We have to start paying some respect to the forces of democracy, and we have to recognise that you cannot make peace without talking to your enemy.
The continuing refusal to deal with some of those elements in Hamas who want to take a step towards us just makes promotion of peace in the Middle East impossible to attain.
One question about the motion for a resolution before us: why are we even thinking about giving money to Gaza? What has it got to do with the European Union? Gaza is an Israeli prison camp! It is nothing to do with us. It is the Israelis who should be responsible for keeping one and a half million people alive. They are the ones who keep them in misery. It is not our responsibility to be providing our taxpayers’ money to meet Israeli responsibilities.
Finally, again on this question of impartiality, we have heard within the last couple of weeks that the Israeli defence force has ordered the confiscation of more Palestinian land to build the roads to enable the building of the E1 settlement – the further expansion of Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem – against every commitment we have requested the Israelis to make, and against every hope there could be for a genuine outcome from the forthcoming peace talks.
As the Palestinians see all hopes of a viable, independent Palestinian state disappearing before their eyes, what is the European Union going to do about it? You know very well that it is going to do nothing except mouth a few words and take no tangible action!"@en1
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