Israel will ‘drive moderates to extremism’ says Martin

THE continuing punishment of the Palestinian people by Israel will drive moderates into the arms of extremists, Foreign Minister Michéal Martin has warned.

He told his fellow EU ministers at their meeting in Luxembourg yesterday that everyone has been patient for the last nine months since the bombing of Gaza, waiting for the situation to change.

The ministers had a wide-ranging discussion on the situation in the Middle East prior to the EU-US summit in Washington next Tuesday jointly chaired by Swedish Prime Minister Frederik Reinfeldt and US President Barak Obama.

The EU foreign representative Javier Solana visited the region last week and reported to the ministers on the continuing deadlock in peace negotiations. Mr Martin said that his report was not all bad and that there were some moves behind the scenes.

But he said it was very worrying that illegal Israeli settlements were continuing in Palestinian areas while the situation in Gaza had not approved with the local population continuing to be deprived of basics and of their human rights.

“The Gaza situation is now much worse and now we have the Amnesty report saying Israel is restricting water to the population of Gaza and the West Bank.

“The blockade is continuing and this is now a collective punishment of the people that deprives them of their human rights and undermines the moderate voices there and in the world generally,” he said.

The Swedish EU presidency outlined a draft policy for EU action that would support the Palestinian Authority and in particular the work of its Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.