Statement by AKEL MEP Neoklis Sylikiotis on behalf of the GUE/NGL Group regarding the European Parliament resolution on Palestine
Friday, 19th May 2017
AKEL MEP and President of the European Parliament’s Delegation for relations with Palestine, on behalf of the Confederal Group of the European United Left-Nordic Green Left GUE/NGL, expressed disappointment with the content of the resolution adopted yesterday by the Plenary of the European Parliament on the need to reach a two-state solution in the Middle East.
More specifically, in a statement issued by GUE/NGL, the decision to abstain in the vote is explained as due to the fact that the resolution does not condemn the armed acts of violence perpetrated by the settlers against the Palestinians, nor does it contain any specific proposals for pressure to be exerted by the EU on Israel to stop its violation of International Law. Furthermore, as the statement notes, there is no criticism of the EU for failing to put pressure on Israel to respect the human rights of the Palestinian people and to stop Israel from violating Article 2 of the Association Agreement with the EU.
In the statement, AKEL MEP N. Sylikiotis also stresses that the resolution regrettably does not refer to the occupation and does not attribute any responsibility on Israel for the daily acts of violence it is committing against the Palestinian people, nor for the actions it is taking to put the two-state solution in danger. Equally problematic, he underlines, is that the resolution adopts an equal distance stance, calling on both sides to refrain from unilateral actions that hurt the solution, thus equating the oppressed Palestinian people with Israel the occupying power.
However, as the statement points out, the text also has some positive points, which can serve as a basis for the future. N. Sylikiotis explains that the resolution correctly denounces the continued expansion of settlements by Israel, as well as the Bill approved by KNESET retroactively legalizing settlements built on private Palestinian land. In addition, he also adds that it is important that the resolution condemns Israel’s demolition of Palestinian infrastructures, part of which have been funded by the EU itself. N. Sylikiotis refers to the Palestinian citizens of Israel who are being inhumanly discriminated against by Israel.
In closing, the AKEL Cyprus MEP underlined that the Group of the European United Left-Nordic Green Left reconfirms its support for a two-state solution with the establishment of an independent, sovereign and viable Palestinian state on the 1967 borders. He also recalled that the hunger strike of the Palestinian political prisoners has been going on for a whole month. N. Sylikiotis therefore called on the EU to intervene directly by exerting pressure on Israel to meet the reasonable Palestinian demands for respect for their human rights so that we don’t mourn any victims.
