Brussels, 11/04/2002 (Agence Europe) - Spokesperson for the Franciscan friars at the Church of the Nativity, Father Jagher, phoned me this morning, Romano Prodi, European Commission President, told reporters on Thursday, to make a desperate, tragic appeal for international aid. Prodi said he had had a lot of contact in the last few days with the Israeli government on the issue but the "results were not so positive". We had applied pressure at all levels and have prepared a structure in order to be ready for a humanitarian intervention, said Prodi, but was re arriving at the very limits of a situation that has been unbearable for such a long time.
Chris Patten will be in Luxembourg on Monday where he will outline to the Council a plan to convene "a very early Council" (EU-Israel Association Council), said Romano Prodi. Responding to questions about the European Parliament's demand for the EU-Israel Association Agreement to be suspended, he said that he would do his best to contribute to a positive outcome of the crisis without damaging bilateral relations. I don't want to jump to premature decisions that could make things worse, he said (echoing Chris Patten's recent comments, I am going my best to help .. positive development of the crisis without making the bilateral relation worse, I don't want to jump to premature decisions which could make matters worse, Ed). The Association Council exists precisely in order to meet and take decisions in difficult moments in our relations between friends and if this moment isn't a difficult moment, when would be? asked Romano Prodi, adding that the situation was completely intolerable.
In his statement on the situation facing the forty or so Franciscan friars, and Armenian and Greek monks trapped in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem since 2 April, without water food or electricity, Romano Prodi said that the Red Cross, the Red Crescent and all other humanitarian organisations had been prevented from getting access to the Church. He continued that they had not been authorised to remove the corpse of a Palestinian in order to be able to bury him… Like the European Commission, we have demanded on several occasions .. that access is allowed … to humanitarian workers with the already prepared emergency aid parcels. We have not achieved any results. The Franciscan friars… say that wanted to open negotiations.. by authorising the formation of a convoy, with international guarantees, to enable Palestinian fighters barricades in the complex to be transferred to Gaza. Yasser Arafat has nominated a negotiating committee to settle the problem, but the Israeli authorities have so far not given any response. The siege has been stepped up even harder and the monks are afraid that the Israeli army will break in at any moment leading to bloodshed in one of the holy areas most dear to the Christian faith and religion. We hope that even in this tragic crisis, the holy areas of all religions will be respected… The survival, security and wellbeing of the state of Israel are too important for the memory of the West and for our democratic principles for our friendship with the Israeli people or our support for its inalienable rights to falter, even in a time of discord. At the same time, such principles impose the moral duty on us to do our best to safeguard the Palestinian people's right to resist, threatened in recent days with annihilation. Romano Prodi added that he had just had a message from the EU's humanitarian aid services saying they were prepared to return to the area with ambulances but the situation in the field was "inhuman" and people were being left to die rather than being helped. Romano Prodi ended by confirming his support for Colin Powell's mission, of which he had the "highest expectations".