Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Commissioner Patten has once again, and impressively, set out a convincing position by the European Union on the conflict in the Middle East, and I want to make some comments on it. I want to preface them by saying that I feel a sense of obligation to Israel, both to its people and to the state itself. That being understood, I want to ask my Israeli friends this: What will you have achieved if, as you are expected to do shortly, you withdraw your tanks from the Palestinian territories after killing many Palestinians, suspected assassins, murderers and potential murderers, after having destroyed many homes and schools, and wrecked the structure of the Palestinian Authority? Has that brought you even one millimetre closer to peace and security? Or is it not rather to be feared that your actions have begotten new hatred a thousand times over, a hatred that will explode at the next opportunity, be it in the Middle East or perhaps even here in Europe? I also want that question addressed to us ourselves, however. Have we really done enough to give us the right to make all the self-righteous demands of Israel that we hear in this House? Did those who went to Jenin also go to Jaffa, to meet the people who, at the feast of Passover, lost members of their families in the cruellest of ways when a bomb reduced everything to blood and broken bits? Is it not the case that Israel had already, and for many years, been a victim of Palestinian terrorism, long before Ariel Sharon had his crazy idea of marching onto Temple Mount as a provocation? Was what we did on such occasions enough? Is what we always do on such occasions enough? Adopting an urgent motion condemning terrorism whilst well aware that not one Palestinian would, even for a second, consider himself bound by it? Have we, then, done enough in this situation? Is it not the case that Arafat was never willing – and was probably not even in a position – to put a stop to terrorism? How do we justify the way we make substantial amounts of money available to the Palestinian Authority on a monthly basis? Do you know what happens to this money, Commissioner Schreyer? Have you ever checked up on it? Can you give Parliament evidence of it? How has the Commission responded to the documents that provide evidence to justify the suspicion that Arafat himself is involved in the financing of terrorism? Last week, a major German newspaper carried a report on a bloody terrorist attack in Jerusalem four years ago – long before the second intifada – which cost many innocent people their lives or their health. It describes how the pictures of the terrorists of that time are venerated in Palestinian schools as the images of heroes. Have we really done enough to contain the terrorism that is striking Israel now, as it has done for years? That is why I do not believe that it is enough to demand that the Israelis withdraw. There is no doubt that they have to do that, but that alone will not secure peace. It is not enough to condemn Palestinian terrorism while doing nothing more than deliver declarations on paper. There are many indications that the parties will not be in a position to free themselves from their mutual hatred, and that an international force will have to be deployed there. The European Union, too, must be an advocate for that. (Applause)

Political group: PPE-DE