European Union " "
The European Parliament, in its session in Strasbourg on 10 April, approved, with 269 votes in favour, 208 against and 22 abstentions, a resolution calling for the suspension of the accord of association between the European Union and Israel. The EP also severely condemned the Palestinian terrorism and called for an embargo on arms sales to both Israelis and Palestinians, the immediate withdrawal of Israeli troops from the occupied territories and the sending of an international task force of monitors. On the same day in Madrid, the summit between the EU, the UN, the USA and Russia repeated the request to the Israelis to withdraw their army from the West Bank and Gaza and to Arafat to do more to halt the terrorism. During the informal Council of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg on 3 April (cf. SirEurope no.14/2002), the member states asked that both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict respect Resolution 1402 of the UN Security Council which calls for the immediate cessation of all acts of violence, including acts of terrorism, provocation, incitement and destruction. In the meantime, the EU executive has decided to allocate 5 million euros in aid to relieve the humanitarian crisis and the Humanitarian office of the Commission (ECHO) is in the process of appropriating a further 1.7 million euros to respond to the urgent needs of the Palestinian population, such as food, drinking water and basic medical supplies.
