With 343 votes in favour, 19 against and 57 abstentions, the European Parliament, meeting in plenary assembly, approved a resolution on 23 October that invites both the Israeli government and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) to continue the peace process in the Middle East according to the route traced out by the Road Map. If the Road Map should fail, steps would then have to be taken to establish an international mandate under the authority of the Quartet (UNO, EU, USA, Russia) that would provide for the deployment of an international force on the ground. MEPs expressed regret that the positive development begun in the Middle East after 30 April, with the resumption of talks between the Israeli government and the PNA, had been interrupted, and that violent clashes had begun anew. They ask the PNA to support the newly appointed Palestinian government in the task of reorganizing the security forces, making concrete and visible efforts to dismantle the terrorist organizations, implementing the already announced reforms, tackling the question of the right of refugees to return and holding free and fair elections. The Israeli government is asked to withdraw its army from the autonomous Palestinian territories, to put an end to “targeted assassinations” and to freeze any further colonization activities and the construction of the security wall. The EP reaffirms its condemnation of any act of terrorism. It also stigmatises the military repression of the civilian population. The assembly endorses the decision of the Council to classify as a terrorist organization also the political movement of the radical Islamic movement Hamas. The EP also censures the Israeli policy of extra-judicial kidnappings and executions and asks for their immediate cessation. In recalling that Yasser Arafat was democratically elected, the EP reaffirms the right of the Palestinian people to choose their own leaders by themselves. The resolution asks for a stronger involvement of the Union in the mediation of the conflict, through all the means at its disposal, in particular through the adoption, by the European Council, of a firm and decided common position, as well as through the intervention of the EU’s High Representative and its special envoy for the region. The EP lastly urges the Quartet and the parties in conflict to proclaim the city of Jerusalem the cultural and religious heritage of mankind and twin capital of the State of Israel and the future Palestinian State.
