Doc. 11060

4 October 2006

Liberation of detained Palestinian parliamentarians must be started

Written Declaration No 385

This written declaration commits only the members who have signed it

The elections of the Palestinian Legislative Council in January 2006 were observed by main international organisations, including the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly. The PACE delegation was unanimous to say that the elections with high turnout were conducted “in a well-organised and democratic fashion.“ ” During the campaign and on Election Day all players generally showed restraint and mutual respect” – reads a statement. Unfortunately the situation changed after the elections and it was aggravated drastically during the military operations in July-August when the Israeli Army detained twenty parlamentarians and eight ministers. The majority of them are still in Israeli prisons.

Taking into account the universal rule that legitimately elected parlamentarians enjoy paliamentary immunity.

Recognising and confirming the responsibility of the CEPA for what is happening in Palestine, we insist on the proved right that the elected parlamentarians should become valuable partners and potential mediators for negotiations and contacts which do not exist today in Palestine.

We call upon the Israeli authorities to immediately start the process of release of the Palestinian parlamentarians being convinced that the liberation of all hostages must go ahead on principles of mutuality and good will.

Signed (see overleaf)

Signed: 1

ALATALU, Toomas, Estonia, EDG

ABURTO, María Rosario Fátima, Spain, SOC

Baroness, HOOPER, Gloria, United Kingdom, EDG

ÇAVUŞOĞLU, Mevlüt, Turkey, EDG

EINARSSON, Mats, Sweden, UEL

FOMENKO, Alexander, Russian Federation, UEL

GROSS, Andreas, Switzerland, SOC

IVANOV, Sergei, Estonia, ALDE

JACOBSEN, Bjørn, Norway, UEL

JAKAVONIS, Gediminas, Lithuania, ALDE

KAIKKONEN, Antti, Finland, ALDE

KANELLI, Liana, Greece, UEL

KHALIL, Ali Rashid, Italy, NR

KOX, Tiny, Netherlands, UEL

Lord, RUSSELL-JOHNSTON, Russel, United Kingdom, ALDE

OSKINA, Vera, Russian Federation, EDG

PLATVOET, Leo, Netherlands, UEL

POSTOICO, Maria, Moldova, UEL

ROSSI, Alessandro, San Marino, UEL

SMIRNOVA, Svetlana, Russian Federation, EDG

SOBKO, Sergey, Russian Federation, UEL

TOMASZEWSKA, Ewa, Poland, EDG

__________________________

Total = 22

1        SOC: Socialist Group

      EPP/CD: Group of the European People’s Party

      ALDE: Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe

      EDG: European Democratic Group

      UEL: Group of the Unified European Left

      NR: not registered in a group