25.01.2010 - REVISE

WELCOME BY MR MEVLÜT ÇAVUŞOĞLU,

PRESIDENT OF THE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY

(Strasbourg, Tuesday 26 January 2010, Hemicycle, 10h15)

Dear colleagues,

Our Assembly has been trying for many years to contribute to creating appropriate conditions for a just and lasting solution of the the Middle East conflict. In addition to the numerous resolutions that we have adopted, in the last years we have established a structured mechanism for dialogue between the parties concerned : the Tripartite Forum. It brings together parliamentarians from Europe, from the Knesset and from the Palestinian Legislative Council.

We are therefore glad that high level politicians both from the Israeli and Palestinian side are attending today the debate: Mr Daniel Ayalon, Deputy Foreign Minister of Israel and Dr. Mohammad Shtayyeh, Minister of Public Works and Housing of the Palestinian Authority and Managing Director of the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction.

TO MR DANNY AYALON, DEPUTY MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF ISRAEL

Mr Ayalon, we have the pleasure of welcoming you not only as a government official but also as a colleague, member of the Knesset. I would like to recall the Israeli MPs have been involved in the Assembly activities, as observers, for more than 50 years (since 1957).

Even if this is the first time that you address the Assembly, it is not your first contact with us: in March 2009, soon after your election to the Knesset, you attended the meeting of the Political Affairs Committee in Paris. You then said that democracy was the best chance for peace in the Middle East region, and expressed the hope that the European values and principles, such as democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law, should become common for the peoples of the Middle East.

We know that our guest is also in favour of facilitating the peace process at the parliamentary level, and we expect our Israeli colleagues and partners to actively show this in practice.

TO MR MOHAMMED ISHTAYYAH, MINISTER FOR PUBLIC WORKS AND HOUSING OF THE PALESTINIAN NATIONAL AUTHORITY

Dr Shtayyeh, I would like to recall that you were involved in the Oslo Peace Process in 1991. In 1998 you came to Strasbourg to take part in the Council of Europe Round Table on “A partnership for cooperation and reconciliation in the Middle East. I also had the opportunity of welcoming you in my town of Antalya in March 2008 for the International Workshop on Cost of Conflict in the Middle East. We met again last year in Geneva in the same context. I am therefore very pleased to give you the floor for your contribution to our Assembly debate.