ࡱ> FHE5@ ,bjbj22 .<XX#&8$ z> T (| | | | | | $0R|| | | | 4%%%F| | %%$%II| 2 CB;pIJ0zIdII|  % K| | | updated 16/11/04 Richard Younger-Ross MP House of Commons London SW1 Dear Mr Younger-Ross Israel/ Palestine Peace Process: EU/ Israel Association Agreement I am writing to ask for your help in raising with the Foreign Office the urgent need for a change of UK policy on the crisis in Palestine. I am very concerned about the desperate plight of the population of the Occupied Territories, and the lack of any new initiative likely to improve the situation. Although Israel may no longer be able to refuse to negotiate with newly elected Palestinian leaders following the death of Yasser Arafat (assuming they permit valid elections to take place), it seems most unlikely that this will be accompanied by any changes in Israeli or US policies. Israeli leaders are still saying that they require the PA to stop all terrorist acts as a pre-condition to starting negotiations. The fact that Palestinian people become suicide bombers illustrates the deep feelings of hopelessness, desperation and hatred that Israeli actions cause. They are in retaliation for what can only be described as state terrorism by Israel : indiscriminate and excessive use of force including blanket artillery bombardments, extra-judicial assassinations, shoot-to-kill policies, deliberate targeting of civilians (including children) and bulldozing of houses (sometimes with occupants still inside) - that goes far beyond what might be necessary for the defence of Israel. For example, during the vicious 17 day assault in October 2004 with tanks, armoured bulldozers and helicopter gunships on densely populated areas of Gaza 110 people were killed and countless others wounded and maimed, including 25 children, many deliberately targeted by Israeli soldiers. In addition 70 Palestinian houses were destroyed and 200 others partially destroyed. Israel is also imposing an economic blockade on the Occupied Territories; large numbers of people in Gaza are close to starvation. Israels proposal to withdraw settlements from Gaza is a distraction to what is really happening. It is clear that the withdrawal is very unlikely to take place considering the bitter opposition to it within Israel, that several more parliamentary votes will be needed to approve it, and the highly unstable state of Prime Minister Sharons government. Even if it did eventually take place, the Israeli government has said that it views withdrawal from Gaza as a kind of exchange for the indefinite retention of vast settlements in the West Bank, which would prevent the creation of a viable Palestinian state and therefore invalidate the current peace process that looks towards a two state solution. It is obvious to any neutral observer that Israels repression of its Palestinian citizens has the effect of sustaining the cycle of violence. Israeli actions make life intolerable for Palestinians, deny them any semblance of a normal life. As long as the EU and the rest of the international community do nothing tangible to change Israeli policies the Palestinians will, understandably, try to defend themselves or hit back with the few resources at their disposal. I am sure you agree that all this constitutes a continued and increasing threat to peace and stability in the Middle East and the wider world, and that a just solution in Palestine would significantly reduce the root causes of anti-Western terrorism. The current policy of the UK government and the EU relies on trying to influence Israel via through diplomatic channels to comply with the Roadmap. This seems mainly to take the form of issuing statements expressing deep concern and pleas for restraint, which are ignored. Indeed, Israeli officials publicly mock the EU and its Member States for empty rhetoric and never taking decisive action. Further, when all 25 EU Member States voted in the UN General Assembly to support the resolution calling on Israel to comply with the ICJ ruling, Sharons response was to say that he saw no future role for the EU in reviving negotiations for a solution to the crisis. Secondly, reliance on the Roadmap as the solution is an illusion. The Roadmap exists only as a statement of what ideally should happen. None of its recommendations has been implemented. The Palestinians have no means with which to fulfil any of their obligations. In May 2003, under pressure from the US Government to accept the plan it had sponsored, the Israeli Government issued a statement setting out 14 conditions for their acceptance of the Roadmap. These conditions are completely unrealistic, either being impossible for other parties to meet, or clearly designed to deny the Palestinians any autonomy and therefore unacceptable to them. In effect, Israel rejected the Roadmap, So, there is no peace process. It is in Israels interest for the Roadmap to remain in a state of limbo, with no agreed plan for working towards a peaceful settlement, as meantime there is no organised international pressure to prevent them repressing of the Palestinian population while building more settlements or otherwise taking control of land in the Occupied Territories. Of course this strategy is also inconsistent with a two-state final solution, as envisaged in the Roadmap. Unless the Israeli Government makes fundamental changes to its policy, including withdrawal to earlier boundaries, it is almost impossible to see how a viable separate Palestinian state could be created, given the situation on the ground today. Thirdly, the UK Governments aim to influence and encourage both sides implies that the Israeli Government and the Palestinian Authority (PA) have roughly equal power and ability to take actions to foster the kind of progress envisaged within the Roadmap. This is clearly not the case the Israeli Government is totally in control, having destroyed the society, economy and infrastructure of the Occupied Territories. The actions of the Israeli Government has in effect rendered the PA powerless. The PA does not control any territory and does not have the means to deliver any services. The Israeli army has deliberately destroyed every PA police station and prison, so even if the PA were willing and able to identify and arrest members of terrorist groups, it has no means of detaining them. In this context I believe that one useful, and entirely justifiable, course of action would be the imposition of an EU trade embargo against Israel, starting with suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. This is one of the few actions available to the EU that has a real chance of gaining the attention of the Israeli Government to international opinion. In any case I am ashamed and dismayed that the EU continues to have preferential trading and cultural relations with a government that, demonstrably and by its own admission, has no respect for international law and basic human rights as applied to significant numbers of its own citizens. Further, the EU-Israel Association Agreement includes specific conditions regarding respect for international law, emphasising the importance of the principles of the United Nations Charter, in particular compliance with the  HYPERLINK "http://student.cs.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/php/db.php?aid=910" Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Evidently, Israel is in material, deliberate and prolonged breach of the Agreement. Imposing trade sanctions, starting with suspension of the Association Agreement, would be a clear signal that the EU is no longer prepared to stand by while the Palestinians are shot at, imprisoned, hounded, evicted and starved out of their land. It would also be a indication of international feeling that, unlike Israeli atrocities in the Occupied Territories, could not easily be concealed from the Israeli electorate by censorship and state control of the media. A new plan leading to a peaceful resolution is needed, probably including an international peace-keeping or monitoring force, and possibly with a different permanent settlement than envisaged in the current Roadmap. The Israeli Government has to be persuaded to change direction and co-operate with this, under some form of external pressure, or have it imposed on them under threat of international isolation. It is inconceivable that the US administration will do anything on its own initiative to kick this off, so the EU must take the lead, maybe together with the UN, in the hope that the US will ultimately see where its true interests lie. Tony Blair has recently said he intends to give Palestine some personal attention within the next few months. The UK will hold the Presidency of the EU in the second half of 2005 thats some way off, but presumably policy priorities will be set in advance and the UK therefore has an opportunity in the near future to set the scene for a debate at European level on a new approach to the crisis, hopefully leading to some tangible action. I would welcome your views on this. I also hope that you will agree to forward my criticisms of current Government policy, and comments on the Association Agreement, to the Foreign Office for their response. 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