Israel Matzav

Italian parliamentarian quits EU delegation due to anti-Israel bias

Calling the European Union parliamentary delegation in which he was supposed to participate 'too anti-Israel' and 'not balanced,' Gabriele Albertini, a member of the European Poeple's Party (EPP) who heads the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee, canceled his participation in the 25-member delegation.

"Rather than a peacekeeping mission, it looks like an anti-Israeli propaganda mission is being prepared," Albertini, a former mayor of Milan, said.

The delegation of 25 MEPs from the foreign affairs, development and humanitarian aid committees, was due to have talks with members of the Knesset.

However, a plan to visit Gaza was rejected by the Israeli authorities as part of the Israel's policy not to allow foreign officials visitors to enter the Palestinian territory run by Hamas because those visits "give moral support to the Islamist group."

Albertini then stressed to his colleagues that the delegation should "re balance" its itinerary in line with Israeli demands but several members of the delegation felt "offended" by the refusal and voted to ask Egypt to enter Gaza through its crossing point instead. They also decided to snub a scheduled meeting with Jerusalem’s Mayor Nir Barkat.

"The MEPs wrongly thought that Israel was targeting the European Parliament while even French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner was denied the right to entry into Gaza earlier this year," Luca Toschi said.

According to the EUobserver website, Albertini singled out his German centre-right colleague and former European Parliament president Hans-Gert Poettering for criticism.

"The honorable Mr Poettering wanted to convene a press conference to censure the conduct of the Israeli government before we start our journey,” he said.

Here's hoping Albertini will come to visit Israel by himself without the rest of the 'delegation.'

UPDATE 5:46 PM

Two more parliamentarians have joined Albertini.

In their statement, Italian Fiorello Provera, vice-chairman of the foreign affairs committee and Dutch Bastiaan Belder, chairman of the European Parliament delegation with Israel said: “We think that the delegation’s program is too one-sided, and for this reason it is extremely unhelpful to the cause we all wish to promote, at a crucial moment, when the government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority are restarting indirect talks.”

“Recent controversy on the nature of next week’s official delegation of the European Parliament to Israel and the Palestinian territories led us to conclude, regrettably, that we are left with no other choice but to withdraw our participation from this mission.”

They said their presence “could lend legitimacy to a mission that stands contrary to what we were elected for – to promote dialogue, reconciliation and to seek a better understanding of the complexities and the difficult challenges that the parties face on the road to peace.

“Regarding the planned visit of the delegation to Gaza through Egypt, we share the concerns of those who see these political visits as a legitimization of Hamas, an organization included in the EU terrorist list,” they added.

They called on the Foreign Affairs Committee to start the planning of a new parliamentary mission to Israel and the Palestinian territories to assess the political situation in the region, “taking into account all points of views of all parties involved, in order to better understand the situation on the ground.”

Hmmm.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:03 AM