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European Parliament President Hans-Gert Poettering cuts a cake during a ceremony to mark the 50th anniversary of the European Parliament in Strasbourg March 12.
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BRUSSELS (EJP)---The President of the European Parliament said the Mideast peace process initiated at the Annapolis conference in November "must not be allowed to subside into violence and terror."
In an address to the 27 EU leaders who met in Brussels last Friday, Hans-Gert Poettering declared: "Only last Monday, at its plenary sitting, the European Parliament condemned in the strongest possible terms the appalling murderous attack on a school in Jerusalem and the latest acts of violence perpetrated by Hamas and other Palestinian extremists."
"The bombardment of Israel from the Gaza Strip must stop. This kind of resistance is terrorism and cannot, therefore, be the subject of negotiations," he added.
"At the same time, ignoring the population of Gaza and supplying them with only the barest humanitarian necessities cannot be part of a workable, long-term solution."
Poettering stressed that the success of the European unification process, in the course of which former enemies have reached out to one another and learnt to live and work together, is also of great significance for the Middle East.
The work of overcoming historical differences by creating closer economic ties and fostering joint development can be an inspiration for this region as well.
The only answer, he added, is the continuation at all costs and a drastic speeding-up of the peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
But he said the Annapolis peace process "must not simply provide cover for a continuation of the settlement policy, one which leaves the Palestinian territories parceled up into countless sealed security areas which seriously restrict the local inhabitants' freedom of movement."
