The European Parliament suspends the vote on the upgrade of EU-
Israel relations
The European Parliament postponed the vote on the proposal by the EU Commission and Council for the draft recommendation on the proposal for the conclusion of a Protocol to the EU-Israel Association Agreement and on the general principles governing the State of Israel's participation in Community programmes, that was scheduled for tomorrow in the EP in Brussels.
This vote would be an important step in the process of upgrading EU-Israel
relations, as also requested in these days by the Israeli Minister for Foreign Affairs Tzipi Livni durino her hearing in the EP Committee on Foreign Affairs, in the framework of the Protocol for the Association Agreement between EU and Israel.
However, the European Parliament voted in the opposite way: 194 MEPs
(against 173) called for the postponement of the vote to another date to
be defined, as requested by the GUE/NGL and Greens groups, with the
agreement by the Socialist Party, part of the Liberals (ALDE) and some MEPS from the Popular Party.
"It's time that the Israeli Government would not considers itself as above
the legality and it starts to respect it, starting from the freezing of all settlements and the end of the siege on Gaza Strip. Untill these signals would not given by the Israeli Government, the European Parliament is not disposed to vote" declared Luisa Morgantini, Vice President of the European Parliament.
"Today's vote represents an important political message that doesn't want
to be a signal against Israel, but it wants to push the Israeli leaderships to take their responsibilities in order to make effective the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and that they can achieve a peaceful solution in the security of the two people.
It is a signal that represents also a warning towards EU Council and
Commission, in order to make pressures on Israel to stop settlers and the
colonization of the 1967 Occupied Palestinian Territory.
But this vote is also a signal of hope for the Palestinians, to let them know that the European Parliament is not deaf to the suffering of people in Gaza and West Bank, that the EP is not only aimed to deplore the situation but to do concrete actions for the respect of human rights and international legality.
It is also an answer to the PM Salam Fayyad, who launched an appeal to the EU for not upgrading its relations with Israel since after Annapolis there
have not been improvements, neither the stop to the closures nor the settlements freezing; it is also an answer to the Palestinian civil society and to the NGOs that sent many letters to the European Parliamentarians.
Finally this vote is a positive fact also for us, Europeans, who are showing to ourselves and to the entire world that the respect of human rights and the achievement of the justice are not abstract declaration of principles" concluded Luisa Morgantini.