Mr President, High Representative, I welcome many of the positions that you have clearly outlined, Mr Solana, particularly regarding the Palestinian Authority and its president. I also know that you are working in a creative and worthwhile manner with your many counterparts in order to encourage the prospect of a breakthrough in the situation. I also thank Mr Patten for his fair and forceful words on the subject of the destruction of infrastructures which symbolise the heart of the Palestinian State. I think, however, that the general attitude of the Fifteen is still greatly out of touch with the extreme seriousness of the situation in the Middle East. In my view, there is a great danger of seeing the majority of Palestinians lose their last hope for peace out of dignity. A nation that is submitted to this sort of daily humiliation by the occupying forces must never feel that the whole world does not care. We must therefore make ourselves heard. As Mr Poettering rightly pointed out, it is not normal for the head of a government to express regret that a man, recognised by the whole international community as the leader of a people and a nation, was not killed 20 years ago. What do we think of this? And how has Europe reacted to the dangerous green light given by President Bush to Mr Sharon’s policy under which he makes things worse in order to further his own ends? The rapport between them is as threatening as a violent storm cloud. Conversely, how are we interpreting the signs, a growing number of which is evident amongst the Israeli population, of a deep-rooted opposition to Mr Sharon’s policy on the basis of the fundamental requirement that the military occupation of the Palestinian territories must be brought to an end? I am thinking of the courageous statements made by Mr Avraham Burg, Speaker of the Knesset, who believes that a nation of occupants will end up being disfigured by the crimes of occupation. I am thinking of the 300 men and women who travelled from Israel to Ramallah this weekend to deliver a message of peace to Mr Arafat. I am thinking of the appeal launched by 52 Israeli officers and soldiers to no longer agree to fight in order to occupy, deport, destroy, blockade, kill, starve and humiliate a whole nation of people. The latest opinion polls reveal a profound distrust of Mr Sharon’s security policy and almost an absolute majority in favour of peace with the Palestinians. Do such facts not give us more room to manoeuvre than those that we use to significantly heighten the tone when faced with the irresponsible attitude of the current head of the Israeli government? What are you intending to do, Mr Solana, in this area, to support the forces of peace in Israel? Lastly, practical measures are as important as fair words in diplomacy and these measures are now expected from Europe. One of the very significant initiatives, such as the one I proposed to you in an open letter that I sent last week, and the essence of which Mr Cohn-Bendit has just partly taken up, could be to invite President Arafat, and possibly Shimon Peres, to the European Council and to the European Parliament and, if Mr Sharon dared to defy the European Union by using force to prevent our guest from travelling, to organise a joint visit by the 15 Foreign Affairs Ministers to Ramallah and to clearly express an opinion on the conditions that, in Europe’s view, would secure a return to peace. I believe that it is of utmost urgency to give, in one way or another, those who support dialogue and peace on both sides the prospect of a breakthrough, which they vitally need. Simply by doing this, you will present – and I know that this is your desire – Europe with a task that rivals its greatest ambitions. (Applause)

Political group: GUE-NGL