Brussels, 11/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - “In Israel, we have only one rule: democracy and freedom.” Reuven Rivlin, Speaker of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, was responding to questions on the living conditions of prisoners detained in Israeli jails, put by members of the European Parliament (EP) foreign affairs committee in an exchange of views in Brussels on Tuesday 11 October. “We have a Court of Justice in which even our enemies can lodge an appeal”, he added. He pointed out that Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier of French origin captured by Hamas in June 2006 did not enjoy the same treatment.
Asked about the Arab Spring, Rivlin said that Israel “welcomes the spread of democracy in the Arab countries. We did not intervene directly so as not to be accused of interference but we welcome democracy in the Arab lands. Relationships are always better with democracies”.
EP President Jerzy Buzek highlighted the involvement of the EU in the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. “The EU is deeply involved, when five or seven years ago, we had no political presence in the conflict. We stand ready to help and persuade the two parties to come to the negotiating table with no preconditions”, he said after a meeting with Rivlin on Monday 10 October. Buzek said he was “hopeful” but did not want to appear “naïve” on direct discussions between Israel and the Palestinians. “I know that we have to persuade the two parties” that “the time is now ripe” to negotiate, he said. Rivlin said that Israel was ready. “The end of negotiations must be the end of the conflict” and must bring peace “once and for all”, he argued. The two men also opened an exhibition in the European Parliament on Gilad Shalit and called for his “immediate” release. (CG/DD/transl.rt)