Brussels, 09/11/2006 (Agence Europe) - European Parliament President Josep Borrell said the time has come to put an end to violence, that it is a question of now or never, and that Europe must be present. He firmly condemned the Israeli military operation conducted during the night of 7 November on Beit Hanun, in the Gaza Strip. “Eighteen people have been killed and the some 40 citizens wounded (…). How can the death of civilians bring security to Israel? How can this make Palestinians take a political commitment along the road to peace and dialogue?” Mr Borrell asks in a press release.
At the EP Socialist Group, Pasqualina Napoletano and Véronique de Keyser made a similar appeal, calling on the EU Council Presidency to “intervene immediately with the Israeli government”, and urging for a strengthened Temporary International Mechanism which is “the only instrument to improve the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territories”.
Véronique de Keyser, who this year headed the EU observer mission for the legislative elections in Palestine, made a desperate call to the EU institutions to help bring this fresh outbreak of violence to an end as, she said, it is bloodier than anything Palestine has known so far. In her view, such a bloodbath can only be explained by the fact that negotiations on a government of national unity had been launched with a chance of being successful. The United States do not want such a government, and neither do the Israelis, she said. Furthermore, the Israeli government has joined forces with the far right without causing Europe to go into convulsions, and Javier Solana has already met Minister Liebermann and, to paraphrase Martin Luther King, hoped that the dream might become a reality. But what dream? Mr Liebermann's dream? “But that dream is our nightmare, the nightmare of any democrat”, the Belgian Socialist said. He went on to say: “Never have the Europeans been as present in the Middle East as they are today. Never have we spent as much money, or invested as much hope. But what are the results? (…) We must demand an immediate ceasefire. And if we do not get it, then we will use every means we have for putting pressure on. One such measure is to freeze agreements with Israel. That is not my wish, as it would no doubt mean taking a population hostage yet again - but what else can be done if the governments go mad and if diplomacy remains powerless to stop them?”. (fb)