Brussels, 07/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - “It is time to move forward”, said EU High Representative for CFSP Javier Solana on Wednesday, adding the “only solution (to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Gaza Strip) is a rapid peace process” with a ceasefire “as soon as possible”. Speaking at the European Parliament, Solana restated that crisis management policy had to be concluded to allow action to be taken to bring the 40-year old conflict to an end. He was backed on this by most MEPs who criticised international inertia, the guilty silence and the lack of political nerve.
“For the first time, the idea of an international force has not been dismissed”, Solana stressed, hammering out: “The Israelis are interested in this idea, the Palestinians are interested in this idea and the Egyptians are interested in this idea”. Two political groups from the Knesset have confided in him that it was perhaps time to envisage such a project, Solana added, confirming that the Quartet (USA, EU, Russia and the UN) would be meeting Israelis and Palestinians before the end of the month.
The idea of an international force for preventing the conflict in Gaza from growing worse was approved by several MEPs, including David Hammerstein (Greens-EFA, Spain) and Pasqualina Napoletano (PES, Italy), who also called for an extraordinary meeting of the Euromed Parliamentary Assembly to be held to discuss the situation. According to Brian Crowley (UEN, Ireland), the EU gave the “wrong signal” when it froze direct aid to the Palestinian Authority after the legislative elections of January 2006. The European response to the Hamas victory was “disastrous” and, as Véronique de Keyser (PES, Belgium) deplored, “we have not changed our policy towards the Middle East”. “The EU has made mistakes and we have disappointed people”, said Angelika Beer (Greens/EFA, Germany) calling for useful cooperation with the government of national unity. The EU must present a united front to support the Quartet, reaffirmed Ignacio Salafranca (EPP-ED, Spain), his British colleague of the EPP-ED, Charles Tannock, saying that one must not lift the ban on Hamas. During its meeting last week, the Quartet prolonged the Temporary International Mechanism (TIM) until September. At the same time, over one hundred MEPs from all political groups called on the EU to resume direct aid to the Palestinian Authority (EUROPE 9427).
In Lebanon, where the army has been engaged in violent fighting with the Fatah al-Islam for nearly three weeks now, “the crisis is at its height because of the presence of terrorist movements in the north and south of the country”, said Solana. He went on to hope that the future international tribunal responsible for judging the murderers of the late Lebanese prime minister, Rafic Hariri, would “bring the situation out of deadlock”. (ab)