Brussels, 10/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 10 September, the European Parliament called for a new EU approach that genuinely serves the interests of peace, and the security of both Israelis and Palestinians.
In a joint resolution passed by a wide majority (525 to 70 with 31 abstentions), the MEPs urged the EU's Special Representative to make better use of the political relations and institutional powers of the European Union and its member states to ensure the EU plays a veritable political role in the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians and also, more broadly, between Israel and the Arab states.
The MEPs supported the United Nations' Security Council's work to ensure the resumption of talks between Israel and Palestine and the EP urged the EU to assume its responsibilities as an influential player and take an audacious global initiative for peace in the region. The MEPs explain that the EU could play a key role in redefining the Quartet's objectives, that should now focus on seeking a political solution to the conflict and on the form this should take.
The European Parliament broadly welcomes the EU's commitment to actively work on a renewed multilateral approach to the peace process in cooperation with all the players involved and to actively support the parties to restore the confidence needed for the opening of serious talks as soon as possible.
The European Parliament invited the European External Action Service and the European Commission to inform the EP about the destruction and damage caused to projects and structures financed by the EP in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and asked the High Representative to work on the full application of the recommendations made in the report by the United Nations' independent committee of investigation into the conflict in Gaza in 2014 and to fully support the work of the International Criminal Tribunal. The MEPs also want to see the reactivation of the EUBAM Rafah border assistance mission, which they want to be given a more ambitious mandate and sufficient material and human resources to carry out a “tangible role” at the Gaza Strip for border control between Gaza and Egypt and Israel. (Camille-Cerise Gessant)