45 European parliamentarians make a stand over the Israeli detention of 45 Palestinian politicians, Solana says there is hope 

Date: 08 / 06 / 2007 Time: 17:04

Bethlehem - Ma'an - 

Forty-five members of the European parliament expressed their solidarity on Wednesday, 6 June with the 45 Palestinian politicians imprisoned in Israel by standing up symbolically at the start of a debate with the European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, on the situation in the Middle East.

According to a press release from Luisa Morgantini, one of the MEPs participating in the protest, 45 MEPs from different political groups and countries took part in the action in order to condemn the imprisonment of their Palestinian colleagues and to call for their immediate and unconditional release.

The MEPs stressed that the imprisonment of the Palestinian politicians is a clear violation of international law.

"Each of us, MEPs, is deeply concerned about the imprisonment of the President and of 1/3 of the Members of the Palestinian Legislative Council, democratically and legitimately elected by the Palestinian people", thee MEPs said in their declaration.

The MEPs also wished to highlight the ongoing Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian territories, which is now in its fortieth year.

"We are deeply worried not only for the plight of the 45 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council but also for the near 11000 Palestinian political prisoners currently imprisoned by the Israeli Army, without a true process and often brutally abducted by the Israeli soldier," the press release continued.

"They have to be released and, at the same time, also the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit must be freed by the Palestinian group that kidnapped him in Gaza Strip, as a change [sic] of prisoners," Luisa Morgantini said.

Morgantini also affirmed the need to implement a political solution to the conflict, based on "two People and two States".

Solana: "this is a time of hope"

Javier Solana, the EU's High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, issued a statement on the situation in the Middle East, particularly in regards to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after 40 years of occupation.

He assured the MEPs that the Quartet – which comprises of the United Nations, the United States and Russia in addition to the European Union – is committed to "starting to work for a political horizon."

Solana confirmed that before the end of June, the Quartet, together with Palestinian and Israeli representatives, will meet "in order to push forward the dialogue that is still at a very preliminary stage between President Abbas and Prime Minister Olmert."

Solana also addressed the issue of deploying an international force in the Gaza Strip. "Let me say that for the first time in many, many years, the idea of an international force is not off the agenda," he said. "It has, as you know, been presented by members of the Knesset saying that the time may have come to call for an international force, which could, at least in the beginning, have a peacekeeping role, patrolling the border in the south, in the so-called Philadelphi Corridor where, as you know, the Rafah border crossing point is located. The Israelis are also considering that possibility, as are the Palestinians and the Egyptians, with differing intensity. This clearly needs further discussion."

Solana also assured that the situation is hopeful, saying, "although the situation is very difficult, this is a time of hope, which has not existed for a long time."

"There are three reasons for this," he continued. "One is the Arab League Initiative, which we did not have at the time of Camp David. Secondly, 40 years have elapsed. I think everybody is exhausted, psychologically, physically and politically. Out of this exhaustion, I think that we have to muster new psychological and political energy in order to move forward. And, thirdly, we have a mechanism, the Quartet, comprising the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and the Russian Federation. For the first time, we have the United States and the European Union at the same negotiating table with the parties."

The MEPs participating to the stand-up solidarity actions were:

Adamos Adamou (Cyprus), Alfonso Andria (Italy), Marie-Hélène Aubert (France), Margrete Auken (Denmark), Angelika Beer (Germany), Frieda Brepoels (Belgium), Bernadette Bourzai (France), John Bowis (UK), Carlos Carnero González (Spain), Daniel Cohn-Bendit (France), Chris Davies (UK), Bairbre de Brún (UK, Northern Ireland), Véronique De Keyser (Belgium), Panayiotis Demetriou (Cyprus), Proinsias De Rossa (Ireland), Jill Evans (UK, Wales), Hélène Flautre (France), Donata Gottardi (Italy), Pedro Guerreiro (Portugal), David Hammerstein Mintz (Spain), Marie Anne Isler Béguin (France), Ioannis Kasoulides (Cyprus), Rodi Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou (Greece), Pia Elda Locatelli (Italy), Caroline Lucas (UK), Jamila Madeira (Portugal), Marios Matsakis (Cyprus), Edward McMillan-Scott (UK), Emilio Menéndez del Valle (Spain), Willy Meyer Pleite (Spain), Luisa Morgantini (Italy), Pasqualina Napoletano (Italy), Béatrice Patrie (France), Miguel Portas (Portugal), John Purvis (UK, Scotland), Karin Resetarits (Austria), Raúl Romeva Rueda (Spain), Martine Roure (France), Tokia Saïfi (France), Toomas Savi (Estonia), Margie Sudre (France), Eva-Britt Svensson (Sweden), Georgios Toussas (Greece), Kyriacos Triantaphyllides (Cyprus), Francis Wurtz (France).