Summary: September 25, 2002: Statement by the Rt. Hon. Chris Patten, Commissioner for External Relations, on the Middle East at the Plenary Session of the European Parliament (Strasbourg)
Foreign Minister Moeller has just spoken about the positive atmosphere at the Quartet meeting on the 17th. Parliament should be aware of the huge amount of work the Danish Presidency put into the preparation of the meeting: it was constructive; and it served to set the basis for a possible peace plan as well as for further international support for Palestinian reform.
Unfortunately, the situation on the ground gives no reason to believe that things will get any better soon. There was a "six week period of calm", calm of a sort, - with 50 Palestinians killed and a Palestinian school bombed. Until despicable suicide bombers killed innocent Israeli civilians and so the violence increased again. Equally worrying is that period of calm has not been used to create a sufficient level of confidence that would have calmed the situation.
To be fair there were some signs of improvement which have passed unacknowledged: we were encouraged by the declaration of Fatah/Tanzim to stop attacks on Israeli civilians. Foreign Minister Shimon Peres called the Fatah document a "first dawn of different season. Hopefully," he added, "spring". But this new understanding seems to have evaporated and the Palestinian Authority and President Arafat have again become the target of an assault in retaliation for the acts of suicide attacks by those
who do not believe in peace.
Let me stress once again - as I have done on several occasions in this Chamber- that we must continue insisting that the PA does everything possible to stop terrorism. We should exert the utmost pressure on the Palestinian Authority to prevent terror attacks and to bring terrorists to justice. But how I wonder does it help the cause of peace to deprive the PA of the power and means to do any of these? How does it improve security to destroy the PA? How does the isolation and attempt at
humiliation of Arafat and the PA contribute to the fight against terror? Or, for that matter attempts to drive him into exile.
On a less gloomy note, the Quartet reviewed the Palestinian reform process which seems to be on track in as much as this is possible under the current situation. The reform of financial and budgetary management is continuing with EU support and under EU pressure. In this context I welcome -as a small first step- the decision by Israel to pay US$45 million in frozen tax transfers to the Palestinian Authority through the same bank account and same monitoring mechanism which was set up as a result
of our support to the Palestinian Authority. I repeat, through the same bank account and same monitoring mechanism. I hope Israel will immediately release the remaining money.
A wide sector of Palestinian society regards elections as a crucial part of the reform process. The pressure on them must be maintained. The events in the Palestinian Legislative Council over the past week and the resignation of the PA Cabinet shows the emergence of a real democratic debate within Palestinian society. This is a very positive sign of parliamentary life. I sincerely hope that a new Palestinian Cabinet dedicated to the reform process is formed soon and that the achievements of the
past few months are not destroyed.
The EU is ready to provide assistance if there is a minimum guarantee that the elections will be free and fair. Whilst we fully support Palestinian elections and the need for Palestinian people to elect their own leadership, we continue to caution against elections if the legal, administrative and logistic framework for elections, including the political environment, is not in place. And how can it be in place if there are closures and tanks in the streets.
But despite the progress on the reform agenda the humanitarian and economic situation continues to deteriorate.
This has been recently highlighted by UN Envoy Catherine Bertini in her sobering report on the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territories: two thirds of the population is under the poverty line and up to half of the population is currently unemployed. The situation must dramatically improve if we are to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe. But we must do much more than fighting the symptoms of the crisis, we must address its causes. Providing humanitarian assistance can only be a
short-term approach - improving the economy must be our goal.
Let me mention here that the EU's humanitarian work is severely affected by the restriction of movement, not just within Palestinian Territories but on arrival at the border. This year so far we have had over 20 cases of denied entry into Israel for EU humanitarian teams.
The Quartet last week agreed to hold in November a Ministerial-level meeting of the Ad-Hoc Liaison Committee, involving the major donors in the international community. The meeting will review the economic and humanitarian situation in the West Bank and Gaza as well as efforts to support and encourage the reform process in the Palestinian Authority including the prospect for elections. I should like to bring to the Parliament's attention that donors will be asked to identify the possibilities
of financial support, including additional funding - and I should warn the Parliament I am likely to come back to the Parliament and the Budget Committee on this in the near future.
Over the last six months we have made some political progress: the perspectives are much clearer now; and the Palestinians and the donor community are working hard on building institutions and reforming existing structures. But there is a danger of that becoming a sort of virtual politics, while the real situation on the ground goes from bad to worse to appalling. Every day, we talk of peace; every day people die - Palestinians, Israelis. How much longer must this go on? How much longer must
Israelis and Palestinians live in Gethsemane.
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