Brussels, 06/05/2013 (Agence Europe) On 3 May, members of the European Parliament delegation for relations with the Palestinian legislative council called on High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton and the member states “to insist that Israel put an end to the illegal policies that are preventing a resumption of negotiations to bring about an end to the occupation”. “Only an end to the occupation can restore the freedom and dignity of the Palestinian people”, added Emer Costello (S&D, Ireland), Véronique De Keyser (S&D, Belgium), Alexandra Thein (ALDE, Germany), Nicole Kiil-Nielsend (Greens/EFA, France) and Georgios Toussas (GUE/NGL, Greece) in a statement, visiting East Jerusalem and the West Bank on 27 April-2 May.
In their opinion, the freedom of the Palestinian people has been crushed by the occupation. They highlighted the fact that the Palestinians are deprived of fundamental freedoms and rights - such as freedom of movement, of living in peace without harassment, of developing their houses and land, of walking and driving on the same streets as the Israelis, and of having access to natural resources.
Reiterating that the European Parliament passed a resolution on 14 March (see EUROPE 10807) in which it underlined its concern about the conditions in which Palestinian prisoners are detained in Israeli prisons, and called for a mission to establish the facts in order to assess the current situation, the delegation said that a mission like this must be held as a matter of urgency. (CG/transl.fl)