Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I returned yesterday from Palestine and I would like to take two minutes to give you an account of my visit. Words cannot express the horror of the situation or the atrocities suffered by the people of Palestine who are denied the most fundamental rights. The hospital in Ramallah has been surrounded and the clinics are inundated by the number of people who are seriously injured. All the hospital buildings have been destroyed. Women are dying in childbirth, their babies too. Ambulances drive round under a hail of bullets to rescue the injured and to collect the dead that they are unable to bury. A single pit has been dug in the hospital yard so that the bodies can be piled into it. A child crossing the road was hit by a bullet which paralysed him for life. An old lady went outside to fill a saucepan with water in the yard, was hit by a bullet and was killed instantly. An ill man, leaning on his walking stick for support, who came to be treated for diabetes, was killed by a bullet as he climbed up the first step into the hospital. When we arrived at Yasser Arafat’s headquarters to bring him food and water, a tank pointed its gun at us. The soldiers, maintaining the firing position, forced us to retreat. In the light of these threats, we left taking the supplies with us. Are these children, these elderly people and these women, terrorists who are putting the state and people of Israel at risk? There is also a curfew in force in Bethlehem. We were there on Sunday, the day of universal prayer. There was the sound of constant gunfire. We decided to accompany worshippers to church. Tanks were positioned at the bottom of the steps in Nativity Square blocking all access to the church. The soldiers ordered us to leave immediately, threatening to shoot us. We went back up a narrow pathway, past churches and schools that had been destroyed. We walked through ruins, past smashed up and burnt out cars, the rubble from collapsed houses and smashed pavements. Torrents of filthy water spewed out of crushed pipe work. Drinking water supplies stored on roofs were practically empty, meaning the inhabitants will soon be without water. They are already without electricity. At the corner of a house, we were again surrounded by soldiers who pointed their rifles at us. You must be aware that our parliamentary delegation entered these towns secretly, using winding dirt tracks, through quarries and building sites, to hide from patrols, patrols of soldiers. When they saw us, people of all ages came out to speak to us, to plead with us to intervene urgently. They expect so much from Europe. They are pinning all their hopes on us. They told us that they would never abandon Yasser Arafat, the person that they consider to be their only legitimate representative, despite the criticism that has been made of him. As democratically elected representatives waving the white flag, we hid like terrorists to assist and protect these people who are victims of terrorist acts. Yes, it is war, but not a war of religion. No, it is a colonial war, where people are resisting military occupation and a state which continues, with utter impunity, to breach international law and the right to live. In the birthplace of cultures and civilisations, universal values and human dignity are being treated with contempt and humanity is collapsing. We do not have the right to remain silent and we cannot say, in the future, that we did not know what was happening. We must face up to our responsibilities and make every effort to bring an immediate end to this massacre. We must make some genuine proposals. You must make some genuine proposals, Mr President-in-Office, Commissioner, Minister, to bring about a political solution. If we vote in favour of suspending the Association Agreements, declare an embargo on arms exports to Israel and send a peacekeeping force urgently to protect the Palestinian people, we will be taking practical action to restore peace and security in these two states. We will also be taking action to promote peace for all the peoples of Israel and Palestine, for the entire region and the world. We will be reaffirming that a future and prosperity cannot be achieved by disregarding justice and the law. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for making your own contribution to peace by supporting this resolution. (Applause)

Political group: Verts-ALE