Brussels, 24/04/2002 (Agence Europe) - I'm not one of those who believe that Europe has nothing to do in the Middle East: Oslo, that's in Europe, Madrid too, and Europe's "sensitivity" is very important, as everything that happens at home has implications for it. This is what Avraham Burg, Knesset Speaker, declared in Brussels Tuesday evening, at a joint press conference with European Parliament President Pat Cox, who (speaking in French) stressed his intention that Parliament should have a "medium-term policy for the Middle East", creating an "exploratory parliamentary platform". Mr. Burg welcomed the initiative, including the invitation Pat Cox addressed to the President of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Abu Ala, and Pat Cox confirmed: "the invitation to Abu Ala remains open; I hope that circumstances will enable him to make this visit as soon as possible". He then added: "if circumstances allow, I also invite Yasser Arafat: the door remains open". Mr. Cox also said he was "ready, in appropriate circumstances, to accompany Mr. Burg to Ramallah to talk to Abu Ala".
Avraham Burg insisted: "there should be a world policy for the Middle East, not a European and United States policy". He considered that the way out of the crisis would be a "Madrid 2" peace conference, also with "Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco", and all countries interested. This conference should focus on the recent Saudi plan, he said, hoping for a "comprehensive dialogue between Israel and the Arab countries, and not limited to Israel and the Palestinians".
Questioned about the initiative of the Trans-National Radical Party to strive for Israel's membership of the EU, Mr. Burg answered: for me, "Europe is not only a continent, but a system of values (…), a democratic way of life, and one may consider that Israel is part of this value system". There are currently initiatives aimed at "punishing Israel economically", but sanctions should not "be one sided", Mr. Burg added, remarking: "were I to be asked if I preferred the carrot (…), I'd say go for the carrot (…) we are an egg-like people, the more you boil us the harder we get, the stick does not persuade us".