Vice president of the European Parliament
Let's recognize our failure: we are complicit in the escalation of violence
Strasbourg, 22 May 2007
Israelis and Palestinians are paying the price of our lack of capacity to
act politically with responsibility and justice in the Middle East.
Once again, the devastating consequences overwhelm the Palestinian
civilians, the thousands of refugees in Lebanon who are facing the attacks
of the Lebanese army. Once again the Palestinians are subject to collective
punishment because of a group of extremists, enemies of the Palestinian
people - Fatah El Islam.
The European Union, the international community must feel morally
responsible for the escalation of violence, morally implicated in the
killing of helpless civilians in Gaza and in the Lebanese refugee camps. The
risk of externalisation of the conflict between Israel and Palestine is the
business of us all. It is necessary to maintain the autonomy of the
Palestinian cause and of the rights of the peoples of Israel and Palestine
to have two sovereign states, recognised and secure. The time for words is
past: It is an indispensable duty to recognise our failure, that of the
international community, of the parties, of the movements to uphold
international law and put an end to a military occupation that has lasted
forty years. The tragedy of these days was announced long ago. We've been
repeating the slogan "Two peoples and two states" since 1980, but only one
state exist, the Israeli state, an occupying power without security. On the
other side is an occupied people, humiliated and without freedom.
Humanitarian aid from the European Union is no substitute for what is
indispensable: a political solution and a transparent diplomatic effort,
working for the unity of Palestinians and not for their division and able to
impose respect for international law on the Israeli government.
Why are we helping extremists to undermine the power of the national unity
government? What more must the Palestinian government do?
The steps that are needed now from the EU and from the quartet are the
recognition of the Palestinian national unity government, which in all its
complexity of political representation, responds to the conditions set by
the quartet with its own programme and expresses the will to return to the
negotiating table, accepting the historic opportunity of the Arab League
peace initiative. Secondly, it is urgent to apply pressure on the Israeli
government in every possible way so that it ceases the systematic abuse of
international law; the unpunished target killings, the theft of land with
the construction of the Wall, and the Palestinian taxes and revenues
arbitrarily withheld. The military occupation kills every hypothesis of
security, every hope of peace, for both the Palestinians and the Israelis.
The Palestinians must recover their unity and stop their fratricidal
fighting and do everything possible to stop the rocket attacks on
neighbouring Israeli cities. Palestine is falling to pieces and with it the
entire Middle East: the consequences of these injustices and for this
violence will come back on us after they have destroyed thousands of
innocent civilians.
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