Rochdale MEP wants pressure for peace

Chris Davies MEP

Rochdale Euro-MP Chris Davies has warned of a threat to world peace unless European Union governments insist on the creation of a Palestinian state.

The Liberal Democrat wants British ministers to encourage EU colleagues to seize the opportunity of democratic reform in the Middle East to put pressure on Israel to change.

Mr Davies, a member of the European Parliament’s Palestine and Israel Delegations, has just returned from five days of meetings in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. He described the situation as bleak, and expressed fears that a two-state solution will soon become impossible if Israel continues building settlements on Palestinian land.

He accused the EU of failing to match its words with any action intended to put pressure on Israel to promote an agreement.

Mr Davies said: “The injustice to be seen in Palestine is a major cause of division across the world. We need not only to want a peaceful resolution but to apply pressure to achieve it.

"No one should imagine that this is a dispute between equals. Israel is all-powerful, and most Palestinians live under what amounts to an Israeli military dictatorship without freedom or recourse to independent justice.

“A dark shadow is cast by Israel’s use of arbitrary military rule, imprisonment of protesters, demolition of Palestinian homes, and divisions akin to apartheid imposed through selective use of identity cards.

“Abuse, humiliation and injustice is the daily lot of great numbers of Palestinians at the hands of Israeli authority. The situation is not getting any better and cannot promote Israel’s long security.”

The European Parliament’s delegation is calling on the EU to support the reconciliation agreement between Palestinian political groups Fatah and amass Hamas announced last Wednesday, and to work with all members of any new unity government formed in Palestine without regard to their political affiliations.

The MEPs say that the EU must respond to the reform movement across the Middle East by pledging to respect the wishes of Palestinian voters expressed in free elections.