madam president having returned at the weekend from a visit to gaza i am going to spend my sixty seconds talking about what i believe to be a serious problem there
our principle of human security is one which obliges us to respond to the humanitarian crisis but it also obliges us to respond and tell israel that enough is enough and that no more can europe turn a blind eye to the abuse of the palestinian right to self-determination
the most significant abuse of that right is the relentless and deliberate colonisation of the west bank and east jerusalem by israel
there are now five hundred zero settlers squatting on territory which is supposed to comprise the main territory of the proposed independent palestinian state
it is increasingly difficult to believe that israel really favours an independent palestinian state while proceeding to annex more and more palestinian territory and does so up to the present date
declarations that europe and the usa are committed to a two-state solution which includes a sovereign and viable palestinian state are not really worth the paper they are written on unless we say stop to israel in relation to settlements
they must be frozen now and eventually dismantled otherwise there will never be a sustainable peace in the middle east mr solana
