INTERVIEW: EU wants to be "fair, objective" partner in peace process

By Abdul Jalil Mustafa Feb 24, 2009, 23:33 GMT

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.'