I’m in Palestine this week with a delegation from the European Parliament. On our first evening, we meet with both the Prime Minister and a representative of the European Commission here in Jerusalem. The EU-Israel Association agreement and the proposed upgrade of relations with Israel are a focus for discussion in both meetings and I stress to the Commission representative in particular how critical it is that an upgrade does not go ahead, calling once again for the current agreement to be suspended until Israel meets its human rights obligations laid out in Article Two.
We learn more about the damage assessment being carried out by various agencies in partnership with the European Community, in an attempt to calculate the cost of repairs needed to Gaza. The Commission has already decided to hold back on providing funds for eg future road building until it is convinced that there is a credible plan for peace. We also get confirmation that, as I have been calling for, the Council of Ministers are giving serious consideration to ways of seeking recompense from Israel for the EU funds spent to date in Gaza on infrastructure projects that have been bombed into non existence over the past 2 months.
