Amman- European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pottering
said Tuesday that the European Union was after the role of a 'fair
and objective partner' in world efforts, aimed at setting up a vital
Palestinian state to live in peace with Israel.
In an interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, Pottering made
it clear THAT the EU would not deal with Hamas until the Islamist
militant movement, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since June
2007, changes its policies and becomes part of a Palestinian
'consensus government.'
'As Europeans, we have been speaking since a long time about two
states, and this is what we need to realize. With a new American
president, I think we have a real chance, and we should together with
America make a new effort, and that's why we are here,' said
Pottering, who also serves as president of the Euro-Mediterranean
Parliamentary Assembly (EMPA).
'I think our position is quite consistent. What is very important
is that we are a fair and objective partner, and we want to be a fair
partner recognized by the Palestinians and the Israelis.'
Pottering spoke after talks in Amman with Abdul Hadi Majali,
speaker of the Jordanian lower House of Parliament, winding up the
German's Mideast fact-finding trip, which started with a visit to
Egypt and later took him to the Gaza Strip, Israel and the
Palestinian territories.
He met 'ordinary people' in Gaza and did not meet any Hamas
officials, simply because the hard-line movement 'has not so far been
recognized as partner' by the European Union, Pottering said.
'This might change once the policy of Hamas changes,' he said. 'It
is part of the dialogue now with the Egyptians, and if a Palestinian
government of consensus makes a special policy which represents Hamas
as well, then Hamas, step by step, will become part of the process.'
Pottering alluded to the Cairo-brokered reconciliation talks
between Hamas and its arch rival, President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah
group, due to open Thursday in the Egyptian capital.
The Israeli premier-designate, right-wing Likud leader Benjamin
Netanyahu, has the chance to move ahead with peace negotiations with
the Palestinians, as did his predecessor, prime minister Menachem
Begin, who concluded a peace treaty with Egypt in 1979, Pottering
said.
'It was Menachem Begin, who was Likud as well, who made peace with
Egypt, and if Benjamin Netanyahu follows the lines of Menachem Begin,
then he can really be a personality of peace in the Middle East,'
Pottering said.
He expressed concerns over the policies of Avigdor Lieberman,
leader of the far-right Israel Beiteinu party, who reportedly agreed
to join a government led by Netanyahu.
Pottering said that calls by Lieberman for deporting all Arabs
from Israel were 'totally unacceptable.'
He also rejected as 'totally unacceptable' latest reports from
Israel about plans to demolish houses of about 1,500 Palestinians in
a Jerusalem suburb and to build new settlements in the West Bank.
'We are not in favour of new settlements,' Pottering said. 'We are
against actions which in the end might prevent the two-state
solution.'
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