Mr President, Mr Solana, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, these are grave times in which we have to work together in order to break the infernal cycle of violence by achieving a ceasefire which creates a window of opportunity and opens the way to negotiations in order that the states in the Middle East may live together. The Europeans, for historical, cultural and even religious reasons, have an enormous responsibility which we cannot ignore. Therefore, on behalf of the Group of the European Socialist Party I propose that we send three messages. Firstly, via the High Representative for the common foreign and security policy addressed to tomorrow’s Madrid Summit. We ask the Presidency-in-Office of the Council, together with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the United States’ Secretary of State and the Russian Foreign Minister to express with one voice the need for a ceasefire and their joint willingness to send an international peace enforcement and observation force to support it. The State of Israel was founded as a result of a decision of the United Nations, a David which is an expression of a world political and moral commitment and that David must listen to us and conform to the repeated declarations of the Security Council. The second message we should send is to the Sharon Government, which must completely end its attempts to turn David into Goliath through its unilateral declaration of total war in response to the suicide attacks against the civil population by certain Palestinian elements. The solution does not lie in an escalation of operations aimed at eliminating the Palestinian Authority and its elected President, Yasser Arafat, whose confinement must end immediately, nor in the flagrant violations of international humanitarian law or the law of war in the occupied territories. In addition, the third message is a message of support for the Palestinian Authority so that it can play its role in the fight against terrorism, for which it needs resources that must not be destroyed – and we must remember that we, as the European Union, have actively contributed to these resources – and can act in the future as the core of a Palestinian State. At the same time, we also want to express our concern at the occurrences of the conflict’s spreading and polarisation that we are currently seeing throughout the world. We condemn attacks on Jewish symbols and institutions in Europe and we are also worried about the increasing tension, not just in the Arab countries, but also elsewhere in the world. We are linked to both parties by means of Association Agreements and treaties which imply reciprocal friendship and cooperation. Within this framework, we wish to express our disapproval of the Israeli Government’s refusal to accept the mediation of a mission from the European Union on 4 April and we believe that, under these circumstances, the Association Agreement must be suspended in accordance with its Article 2 until we see a clear and unequivocal sign that the Israeli Government is willing to resolve this crisis. (Applause) Furthermore, we support and advocate an arms embargo on both sides by the European Union and will ask my Group, in relation to the transnational compromise resolution we have negotiated – although we go further – to vote in favour of Paragraph 8 of that compromise resolution. Finally, Mr President, despite everything, we want to reiterate our conviction that, despite the gravity of the current situation, peace is possible. As you know, we have had a long and fruitful historic relationship with our colleagues in the Israeli Labour Party. We have publicly criticised their participation in this government, but we want to continue talking to them. Just yesterday I received a call from Simon Peres, a well-liked and respected person in this House, and we have agreed to hold a debate soon with the Labour Party in our group. I urge everybody not to cease in this effort and to use all possible opportunities for dialogue with our Israeli and Palestinian friends and partners to tell them that we are not condemned to endless violence. Our own history demonstrates this and what we have to do is support coordinated international action within the framework of the United Nations, taking advantage of the proposals of the Arab League so that Madrid may offer another glimmer of hope. (Applause)

Political group: PSE