17 March 2011 - Strasbourg
Debate:
Pino Arlacchi (S&D) - Mr President, having heard Baroness Ashton’s statement, I would like to put two questions relating to her evaluation of the impact on the Middle East peace process of what is occurring now in North Africa.
Baroness Ashton, do you not believe that we have a new opportunity, since the global platform for human rights is now much higher and the threshold of tolerance in the Middle East for clear violations of international law and human rights, such as Gaza and the settlements, is much lower?
My second question is this: do you not believe that the psychology of a besieged fortress in Israel, which in the past was a driving force behind its foreign policy, now has much less justification, because the threat posed by what are becoming democratic regimes is very much less and also because democracies do not go to war against each other? Do not all these factors contribute powerfully to a potential reduction in tension in the Middle East?
[source: www.europarl.europa.eu]