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European Parliament Plenary Session, Strasbourg
06 October 1999
I am delighted at this early opportunity to discuss this important
subject with you, Members of a Parliament which has taken a long and
keen interest in efforts to bring peace to the Middle East. You have
chosen an opportune moment for this debate.
Hopes for peace in the Middle East are higher now than they have been for many years.
The election of a new and more constructive government in Israel, and the signing of the Sharm Memorandum last month, have set the stage for a re-launch of the peace process.
There are clear signs too that both sides mean business: the first troop withdrawals, prisoner releases and yesterday's agreement on the opening of the safe passage route between Gaza and the West Bank all show that both Israelis and Palestinians have begun again their efforts to reach a permanent peace.
The permanent status negotiations have recently started once more. The differences are not to be underestimated. But, with political will on both sides, they need not be unbridgeable. The EU will do all it can to help the parties meet the February deadline for concluding an umbrella agreement.
We also believe that the permanent agreement should be concluded within the target period of one year, as stipulated in the Sharm Memorandum - and as called for by the European Council in Berlin.
So what can we in Europe do to stand by the peacemakers?
It is right that we should match their renewed political commitment to move forward with practical support from the EU. That, as the Presidency has just made clear, is what the Union collectively is doing. President Ahtisaari is in the Middle East this week. Ambassador Moratinos has been accompanying him and will, I know, continue to work hard to maximise the European Union's contribution in the coming vital months. We are also pressing ahead with the implementation of projects such as the construction of the Gaza sea port and the safe passages between the West Bank and Gaza - projects invested with political and social as well as economic importance.
We are also hoping for an early re-launch of the Syrian and Lebanese negotiating tracks, and will continue to assist the parties with a view to an early resumption of these crucial talks.
Regional co-operation
But peace in the Middle East has a broader dimension. It extends wider than the talks between Israel and the Palestinians, central though they are.
That's why we are keen to revitalise the multilateral talks and regional co-operation. The Presidency and the Commission have renewed their call for a Monitoring Committee meeting of the Regional Economic Development Working Group as soon as possible, which is chaired by the EU. After three years of impasse, this would bring Israelis, Egyptians, Palestinians and Jordanians together again on official level.
We are taking other practical steps, calibrated to the new political climate. The Commission has stepped up its planned support for regional co-operation projects between Israelis and Arabs. We will propose financing of more than 20 million euros for such projects to Member States next month. This package includes renewed assistance for People-to-People activities and cross-border co-operation, where Israelis and Arabs meet on non-governmental and expert levels. The first generation of People-to-People projects - seventeen of them in all - costing some 5 million euros, will start soon. Members will recall that the EU is the largest financial donor to the overall efforts in bringing reconciliation to the people of the Middle East.
Assistance to the Palestinians
Let me say a word about our assistance to the Palestinians. In general we look to both Israelis and Palestinians to improve their performance in removing obstacles preventing international aid from achieving its goals. The Palestinians need to persevere in the path of sound institution building, including budgetary transparency. In addition, Israel must find more effective ways of reconciling its legitimate security concerns with the urgent need for genuine Palestinian development.
We are pleased to have recently reached agreement on the update of the Tripartite Action Plan. This plan, Honourable Members will recall, details Israeli, Palestinian and international donor obligations in the framework of the assistance efforts to the Palestinian Authority. The improved political climate should, I hope, allow for more progress on these matters.
We have consistently pressed for the building of sound and accountable institutions in the Palestinian Authority. I am pleased to report therefore that President Arafat has endorsed the recently published report on Strengthening Palestinian Institutions, prepared by an independent Task Force sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations, with substantial EU assistance.
President Arafat has appointed several senior ministers to a special committee. They will meet the Task Force, including President Prodi, in Brussels next month to discuss the implementation of the report’s far-reaching recommendations.
We will also continue discussions on these issues at the upcoming meeting of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee for Assistance to the Palestinians in Tokyo, which is the international donor consultation mechanism. We will press for the next meeting of this committee to be held in Portugal, in line with the understanding reached at the Frankfurt meeting last February. I have every confidence that we shall succeed in that.
In view of our major share of total assistance to the Palestinians (over 50%) most future donor co-ordination meetings should be held within the Union, co-chaired by the EU Member State hosting the meeting.
UNRWA
I am happy to report that the 10th Convention between the Community and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, was signed last week. The Commission has already initiated the first payments under the new convention. This will allow us to help deal with UNRWA’s severe cash shortfall and to continue our crucial support to the Palestinian refugees.
Let me also express my gratitude to the Committee on Development and Co-operation for their very thorough report and for your support, in the framework of the consultation procedure, for the Commission’s efforts in finalising the Convention.
I would like to pay particular tribute to the rapporteur, Ms MORGANTINI. Let me also thank the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy, as well as the Committee on Budgets for their support to the Convention.
I have given you a summary of the efforts we are making, with the Presidency, to help bring peace at last to the Middle East.
We look to the parties to carry out in actions what they have put their names to on paper.
In exchange, Europe will continue to play its full part in the peace process. But let me also stress that we intend to continue work closely with the United States - not as competitors, but as partners - in this matter. We recognise the crucial role of the United States, which has wrestled for so long and with such tenacity to bring peace to this troubled region. I pay warm tribute to US efforts, for example, to the negotiating skill and determination of the Secretary of State.
It was Yitzhak Rabin who famously remarked that you do not make peace with your friends. No one underestimates the scale of the challenges ahead. Peace will not come tomorrow. But peace will come, of that I am sure, with time and with patience, allied in equal measure to the will of the parties to achieve it, and the will of outsiders to help them bring it about.
We have today a new chance for peace in the Middle East. Our task is to do all we can, as Europeans, to give that peace a chance, and to hasten the day of its arrival. That is what we, with your active support and encouragement, intend to do.
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