WRITTEN QUESTION E-3368/01 by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Unequal treatment of Israeli nationals and preventing the customs, police and army in EU States from following an undesirable example.
Date: 2001-12-06
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Israel, equal treatment, ethnic discrimination, human rights, national, parliamentary immunity, police checks

26.9.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 229 E/17

including € 0,6 million from Tacis for technical and institutional assistance). This € 11
(€ 4,5 million,
million programme for the emergency environmental rehabilitation of the Krasny Bor site and for
treatment facilities will be implemented in 2001-2004, with the first tranche of the EBRD loan to be
disbursed in February 2002.

At this stage, no additional major funding is foreseen by the Commission, which will closely follow the
progress of the clean-up programme through its Tacis component. The rehabilitation of Krasny Bor can be
considered as an example of successful collaboration between Russian authorities and different donor and
financial institutions.

(2002/C 229 E/016)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3350/01

by Graham Watson (ELDR) to the Commission

(5 December 2001)

Subject: Taiwan’s entry into the WTO

Following Taiwan’s entry into the WTO, the importance of EU contacts with the world’s 14th largest
trading economy has increased. For how many more years will the Commission delay the long-promised
opening of a representative office in Taipei?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(6 February 2002)

The Commission has been carrying out an overall review of its External Service, reassessing the priorities
for the extension of the Commission’s network of external representations against the background of
scarce resources and other factors, notably the ‘deconcentration’ of the management of Community
external assistance programmes. This review culminated in the Commission’s Communication to the
Parliament and to the Council on the development of the External Service (1). This Communication
proposes a number of openings of Commission external representations in those regions where it is still
underrepresented. In this context, the Communication indicates that consideration will be given to opening
a trade representation office in Taiwan.

Given the budgetary constraints under which the Commission’s External Service operates, the resources
needed for the new openings will be found essentially through redeployments and reallocations within the
existing External Service.

Further changes in the network beyond the present programme are likely to become necessary, as a
function of changing circumstances and new priorities in the Union’s external relations. The Commission
will continue to analyse the long-term development requirements of the External Service, including the
resource implications.

(1) COM(2001) 381 final.

(2002/C 229 E/017)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3368/01

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(6 December 2001)

Subject: Unequal treatment of Israeli nationals and preventing the customs, police and army in EU States

from following an undesirable example

1.
Does the Commission recall that the Arab member of the Knesset Azmi Bishara has been stripped of
his parliamentary immunity at the request of the public prosecutor in response to the positions he had
adopted with regard to the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians?

C 229 E/18

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

26.9.2002

Can the Commission confirm that five other members of the Knesset who are of Arab origin are now
2.
also under stringent surveillance to check whether they make statements which violate security legislation,
although no such checks are made on statements by their Jewish colleagues?

Can the Commission furthermore confirm that, in other respects too, Israeli nationals of Arab origin
3.
are increasingly being treated differently from their Jewish fellow citizens, for example in that information
which is required for the normal conduct of court proceedings is withheld from them and their lawyers on
‘security grounds’, in that they are placed in ‘administrative detention’, which involves detainees first being
tortured on the ‘moderate physical pressure’ principle which the Supreme Court forbade in 1999 and then
released without any explanation, and in that, when crossing the external borders, they are compelled to
undress at customs posts and are interrogated, and by means of other forms of ‘racial profiling’ which
violate the principle of equality between people laid down by law?

4. What is the Commission doing in its contacts with the State of Israel to put an end to such unequal
treatment of Israeli citizens as soon as possible?

5. What is the Commission doing to prevent such practices as are currently being applied in Israel from
setting the trend for customs, army and police units engaged in fighting terrorism in the EU Member
States, as a result of which residents of these States might be deprived of equal status and of important
liberties?

Source: The Dutch newspaper ‘De Volkskrant’, 19 November 2001

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(20 February 2002)

The Commission is aware that the parliamentary immunity of Member of the Knesset (MK) Azmi

1.
Bishara has been lifted.

2.

The Commission has no information concerning possible surveillance of other MKs of Arab origin.

3.
The Commission has received information from different sources that the Arab minority may be
treated differently from their Jewish fellow citizens. A number of cases of administrative detention of Arab
citizens have been reported by human rights organisations which indicate that Arab citizens may be
subject to more stringent security checks that their Jewish fellow citizens.

The issue of the rights of the Arab minority in Israel has been formally raised in the framework of
4.
the political dialogue with Israel. The Community has stated ‘that Israel’s legitimate security concerns must
be addressed with full respect of human rights and within the framework of the rule of law, in accordance
with Article 2 of the Community-Israel Association Agreement’. The Commission regularly monitors
developments concerning the Arab minority in Israel and has provided financial support to human rights
organisations which promote equal rights and fair treatment for the Arab minority.

The Commission would inform the Honourable Member that Member States are responsible for

5.
organising and running their anti-terrorist services.

There are no provisions in the founding Treaties of the Union and the European Community that allow
the Commission to intervene in the Member States’ affairs to take preventive action or advise them on
how to organise their respective services.

However, in an area where the Community has been delegated powers to act, the Commission ensures that
fundamental rights are respected.