Embassy of the State of Palestine

Leader of the delegation, Chris Davies MEP, said:

Members of the European Parliament's official delegation to Palestine have made this visit to strengthen our understanding of the circumstances of the Palestinian people and assess the state of the peace process between Israeli and Palestine.

As so often in the past we are disappointed, indeed outraged, to hear yet again of the injustices of Israel's illegal occupation of Palestine - of confiscations and of demolitions, of settlement building and of the exclusion of Palestinians from so much of their own land, of humiliations and of killing, with the Israeli perpetrators facing nothing by way of punishment.

The European Union criticises Israel for all these things but we regret that the EU's words are too rarely followed by action. On the contrary, relations between the EU and Israel remain very close and we fear that Israel will too often assume this amounts to tacit support for its behaviour. We call upon the European Union to apply more pressure on Israel to change its ways, and we do this because we are friends of both Palestinians and israeli and we believe it is in the interests of all that the occupation is brought to a swift end.

At the end of this week the Israeli Government is due to release the fourth group of 29 Palestinian prisoners in accord with the agreement made with President Abbas. It would be judged an act of very bad faith if the Israeli government were not to honour its pledge. Palestinians would be entirely within their rights were they then to choose to approach the many United Nations bodies with a view to obtaining membership, recognition and action.

So far as the peace process is concerned let me say that we are absolutely convinced by the sincerity of the Palestinian administration wish to engage constructively and secure an outcome that can enable a viable Palestinian seat to exist in peace alongside Israel. But we have not spoken to a single Palestinian who believes this same commitment is shared by the Government of Israel. We have encountered deep cynicism and a widespread belief that Israel wants a peace process solely to provide itself with cover from criticism while it continued to build settlements! change the facts on the ground and make the creation of an independent Palestinian state impossible.

We deeply regret to learn that after 8 months of discussion no agreement has been reached about final status issues. The possible solutions have many times been explored and well known. Instead of going forwards the peace process seems to have gone backwards, with Israel placing new demands on the table and demanding Palestinian acceptance. This confirms the impression that Israel has no will to take the steps necessary to secure success.

If Israel seeks to deny the creation of an independent Palestinian state we ask all Israel's to reflect on what the future holds. As Europeans the word 'occupation' brings to mind thoughts of a terrible past. No people can be expected to tolerate a military occupation for ever. If Palestinians are denied independence and refused justice then they will adopt alternative strategies to secure their rights as human beings equal in every way to Israelis.

The European Union should support them in the achievement of these aspirations.

CHRIS DAVIES MEP - UK
NORBERT NEUSER MEP - GERMANY
NICOLE KIIL-NEUSER MEP - FRANCE

25 March 2014