Statement by Eliezer SANDBERG, Observer from Israel Strasbourg, 27 June 2002

[Abstract of the verbatim report of the Assembly]

Mr SANDBERG (Observer from Israel). - These are not easy times in the Middle East, for Israelis or for Palestinians. We are in a very special situation. In principle, this is war, though perhaps not from the legal point of view. The war started immediately after the proposals made by President Clinton and Ehud Barak were rejected by Yasser Arafat at Camp David in 2000.

We are a democracy, fighting against terrorism in an extremely difficult situation. We face challenges that no European country has faced in the past fifty years. We are fighting terrorism that is within our homes and invades our everyday life. Dozens of Israelis have been killed every week by terrorist actions over a very long period.

We need to maintain and strengthen democracy, but there are dilemmas. Some of the amendments mention medical treatment, and ambulances that are stopped at checkpoints. We stopped one ambulance and found explosives hidden behind the person who was being taken to hospital - bombs destined to be used against Israelis. What should we do? Stop checking? It is not easy to decide.

A democracy fighting terrorism needs to take action to prevent or minimise the damage. Before this Intifada war started, we were asking Arafat to take the measures needed to prevent the radicals from carrying out their actions. Unfortunately, nothing was done. More than that, we know today that Yasser Arafat was directly involved in organising some of the terrorist actions that were taking place in Israel, by buying explosives, signing cheques and giving financial support from the Palestinian Authority to the families of those who kill themselves, or allowing others to pay them, which seems no different to me.

In Israel, the problem is that Israelis strongly believed that Yasser Arafat would deliver and go forward, as he accepted an obligation in 1992 before the Oslo agreement was signed. We strongly believed that he would keep that obligation never to use violence again as an instrument to promote political aims in the Middle East. Unfortunately, that is not the case. We return again and again to the cycle of violence. We are trying our utmost to prevent terrorism and minimise damage. To do so, we are going into the territories, then withdrawing, returning and withdrawing again. This is no occupation; we have to go back and prevent something that others failed to prevent. Mr Abu Zayyad said that Mr Arafat is unable today to use his powers. However, Israelis are questioning what he did when he could exercise his powers. Unfortunately, there was sad news, again and again about people who had been killed, the victims of terrorist action inside Israel.

I am here as an Observer from the state of Israel, a post I have held for a bit more than nine years. In good times, I remember the speech of our late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in the Assembly. I also remember other times when Mr Rabin was condemned for sending 300 or 400 people to Lebanon at the beginning of the 1990s. I am sure that today we would denounce such condemnation, knowing that Hamas is one of the major terrorist forces acting against Israel and peace in the Middle East. I have been active in many decisions, discussions and resolutions. Sometimes, there is no substantial outcome to attempts to solve conflict in the Middle East. Perhaps I am being too frank and honest and I am sorry for saying something that may appear to be a criticism of the Council of Europe. However, it can do a lot in other fields and can contribute to the promotion of a peaceful future in the Middle East.

I have spoken about that before. Mr Atkinson, who is sitting in front of me, produced a report and we discussed the matter many times. I asked him to use his excellent abilities to promote democracy and relations between different groups in the Middle East. I do not want the next generation of leaders in Israel and the Palestinian Authority to be in the same relationship as Sharon and Arafat. I want people to know each other and get involved in neutral activities. I could give a long list of such activities. My colleague from the Knesset, Nehama Ronen, may speak later about one such activity, which involves environmental issues, but we should also bring people together in sport; in co-operation between different NGOs; people's councils and students' councils; women's organisations; hi-tech projects and agriculture. Those are all neutral issues but once we work together on them we shall get to know each other and, as a result, the next generation will be different.

I want to talk about the next generation and education. Forty kindergartens in the Gaza Strip today are run by Hamas, thus contributing to the next generation of terrorist bombers and suicide bombers. We must stop that. I watched from the sidelines as the Council performed similar neutral activities in bringing Europe together and in bringing together east and west. There is a lot that it can do. My request is simple - please do not be the judge. Be constructive and help the Middle East to go forward. You have the ability to do that, perhaps not in the signing of a peace agreement, but by slowly creating a future for the Middle East, building it brick by brick until there is a wall, but not a wall of separation. We are trying to build such a wall to protect ourselves passively, but it is not the Berlin wall. We are trying to prevent people from entering Israel to kill us, but we do not want to stop people going out. We want to build a wall of peace together with the aid and assistance of the Council of Europe. Please therefore do not be judges but help us to do things constructively.