PRESS RELEASE
By LUISA MORGANTINI, Vice President of the European Parliament, Rome, 11th July 2008
“The ongoing raids, closures, arrests and confiscations actuated by the Israeli army against Institutions, associations and even schools in Nablus are illegal actions, representing not only a clear violation of the International law and more suffering and injustice against the Palestinian population but also a direct attack on the Palestinian PM Salam Fayyad’s Government, who is showing with all efforts his willingness to maintain order, law and security in the city and in the entire Palestinian Occupied Territory” declared Luisa Morgantini, Vice President of the European Parliament condemning the recent episodes occurred in Nablus, where in the last days more than 50 military vehicles of the Israeli forces entered the city, invading the Municipality, closing the headquarters of some media, health and women associations, confiscating computers and even schools’ and health equipments.
“The escalation of the Israeli raids is unacceptable. With a Delegation of Members of the European Parliament, last June, we saw the effort of the Palestinian Authority to keep security and we saw how this security is undermined by the actions of the Israeli army: incursions, arrests, closures, sounds bombs exploded during the nightly invasions, and now also the order to close the Nablus Mall, including 50 shops and offices, threatening anyone who enters the Mall to be imprisoned for five years. These orders by the Israeli military Authority are illegal and invalid, as also rightly denounced by PM Salam Fayyad, who went to Nablus, yesterday, 10th July, calling on shopkeepers and residents to reopen their stores and to resist in a non-violent way.
Since this policy continues, how can we truly believe that Israeli Government is sincerely looking for a partner for peace and for the negotiations?
On the contrary, all this represents a direct attack to all opportunities for peace showing the arrogance of the Israeli occupation and the hypocrisy of the Israeli Government claiming to support the Palestinian leadership, represented by President Mahmoud Abbas and PM Salam Fayyad, but in reality acting in the opposite way, weakening them and their political roles on the ground, with any chance for a just and sustainable peace, to be achieved by indispensable negotiations in order to reach the end of the occupation, two people living in peace and security in two States, on ’67 borders with Jerusalem as a shared capital.
The Quartet, the Arab countries, the EU, all the people who say that they believe in peace should act now and call on the Israeli Government to stop its illegal and inhuman practices against the Palestinian population and to work for the political and geographical unity of the Palestinian Territory and people”.
Further information: Luisa Morgantini, 0039 348 39 21 465 or Office 0039 06 69 95 02 17;
luisa.morgantini@europarl.europa.eu; www.luisamorgantini.net;