Brussels, 23/03/2010 (Agence Europe) - At the end of the day last Monday, Tony Blair, the Quartet's special envoy to the Middle East, was given a joint hearing by the development committee and its foreign affairs and security counterpart at the European Parliament. Blair attempted to convince MEPs of the success of his achievements over the last two years. First of all, he stressed that his mission had been limited to economic aspects and putting in place the structures of a possible Palestinian state. He explained that the political elements were the responsibility of his US counterpart, Georges Mitchell. Blair was pleased with the work accomplished and thanked the EU for its aid to the Palestinian people. He called on the EU to continue with this support “in order to make a two state solution possible”. According to Blair, they need to, “guarantee security, build state structures and develop the necessary legal capacities for a future state in this scenario”. The former British prime minister asserted that “the Palestinian Authority, under the leadership of Salam Fayyad (prime minister) had made a commitment” to implementing state structures. He also said that despite all the stumbling blocks, things were moving forward, thanks to, in particular, a very real but slight improvement in restrictions on the ground. He affirmed that the local economy was taking off again and had registered 7% growth. Despite these elements of hope, Blair said that the task ahead was colossal. He also said that the situation in the Gaza Strip was still dangerous and that the formal economy had not managed to recover there but remained focused on the informal economy, through a system of tunnelling. His main conclusion was that if Gilat Chalit (the Israeli soldier held prisoner in Gaza) was freed, the situation would change. Later on during the debate, Blair underlined the need to ensure Israeli security and explained that if security had been reduced for the Palestinians it was, in his opinion, due to the internecine Palestinian disputes. Véronique de Keyser (S&D Belgium) was exasperated that nothing had been said about the security of Palestinians threatened every day by Israel.
The former prime minister was not very convincing and appeared to be very much tailing behind the position put forward by the Europeans. Blair was criticised for “beating around the bush” and accused of a certain diplomatic passivity when faced with the real obstacles pointed out. Eva Joly (Greens/EFA, France), the president of the development committee, summed up the general feeling of the debate when she pointed out: “I am not unaware that his work is difficult but the results are poor”. According to Joly, “trying to get a consensus at any price” is nothing but hot air, she informed the hearing.
During the debates, she took Blair to task and asked why he did not envisage a universal declaration of the two states. Blair made a reference to the Irish crisis in this connection to explain that they could only obtain this by way of negotiations. Dominique Baudis (EPP, France) asked how they hoped to make progress “when one of the two sides is not respecting its international commitments and the other only manages to get its voice heard through the use of violence”. Scepticism and relative exasperation appeared to dominate the following contributions made by MEPs, including Richard Howitt (S&D, United Kingdom), Corina Cretu (S&D, Romania) who livened up the debates, Proinsias De Rossa (S&D, Ireland), president of the parliamentary delegation to the Palestinian Legislative Council, Ivo Vajgl (EPP, Slovenia), Werner Schulz (Greens/EFA, Germany), Malika Benarab (Greens/EFA, France) and Véronique De Keyser.
The different speeches made by the MEPs gave the impression that it was now time for deeds rather than words in both the political and economic arenas (particularly with regard to the development of external trade), in addition to social and humanitarian aspects. A representative from the UN, Max Gaylard, the deputy coordinator for humanitarian aid, and Barbara Shenstone from UNRWA talked about their experiences on the ground and described the situation as “disastrous” and hampered by the obstacles created by the occupying force. The only two optimistic notes were expressed by the representative from the Israeli economic community, David Simha, the vice president of the Israeli-Palestinian Chamber of Commerce, and the Palestinian, Hanna Siniora, from the Palestinian Information and Research Centre, which provides support for enterprise. Simha focused on projects developed for the good of the two communities (network development, business guides, Israeli-Palestinian business clubs, common statistics and projects more directly linked to trade and production in textiles and new technologies etc). Siniora also talked about what had been done on the Palestinian side, despite the crushing weight of the Israeli military presence controlling more than 60% of Palestinian territory. With regard to what business leaders are doing together, the mission led by Blair would, according to Mr Siniora, “be just a drop in the ocean” (F.B./transl.fl)