19 March 2010, Stockholm
"The situation in the Middle East"
Anna Lindh seminar 2010
Dear Friends,
I am so glad to see you all.
Many of you I have seen before – here or in the Middle East.
All of you have become my friends.
I am very glad to see the PLO representative here and I am very glad to see the ambassador of Israel here and I am very glad to see Jan Eliasson – the former Minister of Foreign affairs.
I am also a bit touched, because this is the seminar in the memory of Anna Lindh. It feels very special. I think most of you know that she was my very best friend, and we had known each other almost since we were kids.
It is very special to stand here talking in her name about the question that we all know really involved Anna during all her grown-up life. She was killed on September 11, seven years ago. Seven years is a long time, but still we miss her – and we miss her a lot!
During her whole political career, from early years, she was devoted very much to peace in the Middle East, to human rights and democracy.
In her speech in January 2003, the same year that she was killed, at the Olof Palme Prize ceremony when Hanan Ashrawi was awarded she said:
"Israel must end the occupation, give up settlements, and agree on a pragmatic solution to Jerusalem, in exchange for peace.
Israel must follow international law and stop humiliating de people in the occupied territories.
The walls, both the one with barbered wire and the one of mistrust, must be torn down.
The Palestinians must do everything in their power to stop the terrorist acts, and take legal measures against those responsible”.
This whole seminar has been about the peace solutions.
It has shown that there are possibilities to solve every imaginable problem on the way to a two state solution.
It is not the question of Jerusalem, refugees, check points, settlements, recognized and secure borders, the separation wall or anything else that really is the biggest problems.
The major problem for a two state solution today is the lack of political will: leaders who dare to risk their positions to find solutions and a high course.
This is what politics are to me. Sometimes you have to risk everything for what you really believe. You cannot only try to see the public opinion. Sometimes you have to change the public opinion. The role of politicians is not only to listen to what people want. You also have to influence what people think. That is the role of politics, and this is the real big problem.
Peace in the Middle East is never going to be a quick fix. You know that. But of course none of us can give in.
There is a new political space in the US which can bring other issues’ in again. I feel that very strongly. The domestic success for President Obama this week to be the first president since the sixties to be able to secure a health care reform is an important factor, when we talk about the peace process in the Middle East. I was so happy when I saw the Congress applauding President Obama.
The announcement to construct 1 600 additional housing units in East Jerusalem during the visit of US vice president Joe Biden was a rare showing of the arrogance of the Israeli government when it comes to the policy of settlements.
Both vice president Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton are known to be long time close friends of Israel. But this time both of them gave harsh comments both on the issue as such and the timing.
The reason for the Biden-visit and the renewed push from US to both sides was the acceptance from both Israel and Palestine to start proximity talks.
After the intense series of consultations during the last period of the previous Olmert government, it certainly feels like “one step forward and two steps back” to have to start those talks again.
But it is better than nothing.
I hope that the Palestinians once again can show their strength by taking part even if their partner once again has shown their arrogance.
Last week we saw visits to the region from both the EU High Representative Catherine Ashton and the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.
I am so pleased that both of them paid a visit to Gaza. Let me come back to the situation in Gaza in a while.
The Quartet on the Middle East made a rather strong statement in their meeting just a week ago in Moscow.
It is not often that you feel a need to quote from a formal decision but this time I would like to read out a short part of the text.
This it what they actually said a week ago:
“The Quartet believes these negotiations should lead to a settlement, negotiated between the parties within 24 months, that ends the occupation which began in 1967 and results in the emergence of an independent, democratic and viable Palestinian State living side by side in peace and security with Israel and its other neighbors.”
Now. EU, the United Nations, the US and Russia need to show political strength and will to take this from believes to reality. I also choose to see this as a new beginning for the EU to finally take the responsibility that we should have taken years ago.
I have a lot to say about the lack of vision and political leadership the Swedish Government, and I really hope that I can kick them out after the election! But I fully support the way they have fulfilled the Swedish tradition of engagement in the Middle East.
At the EU Council Meeting in December last year, the Swedish presidency pushed to forward the views of EU, including the question of Jerusalem.
To us Social Democrats, it is clear that Jerusalem should be seen as a capital of both Israel and a future independent Palestine. I visited East Jerusalem this autumn, and I talked to the families that were evicted from their house that had been their home for generations. They had to live on the pavement, on mattresses outside the house. The father in the family, I will never forget him, was still holding a firm grip on the keys to his house. The house that his father´s father had built. The house where his father was born and where his children were born.
Israel has to stop settlements, house demolitions and evictions in all occupied territories, and that goes of course for East Jerusalem too. A significant set-back to a peace process came when the Prime Minister of Israel, said that it is as natural for Israel to build houses in East Jerusalem as to build houses in Tel Aviv.
Jerusalem is as important to Palestinians as it is to Israelis. It is a town of the big religions.
I have also walked the narrow streets of Jerusalem, more than one time. It always makes me feel so humble for the impact this city has had to form the world religions and still has today. Jews, Christians and Muslims all have sacred places in Jerusalem and Jerusalem is big enough to be the capital of two states and all religions.
Let me also say a few words on the situation in Gaza. The three week long war in Gaza last year has had horrible consequences. Nearly 1 500 Palestinians were killed by the war. The infrastructure of Gaza was to a large extent destroyed and it has not yet been rebuilt.
The lack of water and infrastructure makes life difficult, to say the least, for so many people. The Israeli siege over Gaza must end. The total control over borders makes Gaza a kind of over-crowded outdoor prison.
Israel maintains that the war was a response to the rocket attacks from Gaza that has hit southern Israel for many years. I have visited Sederot next to the northern border of Gaza.
I felt the stress when the rocket alarm went off. I both felt and heard the impact of the rockets when they hit the ground. I remember that, and it is hard to understand how it is to live like that – in Gaza or in Sederot – day after day, after day.
At the same time as we condemn the rocket attacks and recognize the right of Israel to defend its people, It remains our firm conviction that the Israeli response went far beyond what can be described as proportional.
The Goldstone report has made a thorough investigation, showing that Israel have used disproportionate violence, used white phosphorous on people as well as Palestinians using civilians as shields and firing rockets on civilians.
The Goldstone report deserves to be taken seriously and be handled in the relevant international institutions. But admitting the difficulties created by the Israeli siege, does not give the right to the Hamas leadership to oppress civil rights.
Reports from human rights organizations, and from my own party people visiting Gaza, gives evidence that our sister party Al Fatah can not carry out political work in Gaza any more.
It is not acceptable that a sister party is denied the right to work. We must protest and act against this. It is also not acceptable that the women in Gaza are now under severe oppression. It is not acceptable.
Nearly no one can work anymore, compared to 30 percent women in the Palestinian Administration before the new Gaza rulers.
There is no possibility for women to wear what cloths they want, and you cannot go on the streets with a man if you do not have your wedding license with you. We see it on many places, not the least when there are also other forms of oppression on the societies.
Women get the double oppression. Women have to pay a harder price.
And I will not accept it. The occupation in the West Bank and the siege of Gaza must end. Palestine needs human rights and democracy.
I had the honor to speak to the first Congress in twenty years that Al Fatah held in Bethlehem last autumn. Al Fatah has now a comprehensive political program and a strategy. That includes steps for a Palestinian reconciliation process,
which I fully support.
Hamas is our political enemies, but the Palestinians needs to unite to be a strong enough partner in the peace process. A strong center left is needed in Israel.
I am aware of the difficulties in the Labor party, but it is my conviction that they can come back and form a strong peace coalition with Meretz once again.
We sister parties have a responsibility to not leave our Israeli sister parties alone.
* * *
Finally,
It is important that we all stay deeply engaged and involved. I trust you on that. "Gestures of resignation is one of our biggest enemies”
The words are Anna’s. She used them during that Olof Palme Price ceremony.
We may never allow our self to be passive.
I have promised to the Labour party of Israel to continue to support them and to offer platforms for dialogue and negotiations.
I have promised in my talks to president Abbas as well as to local Fatah leaders that our support will continue to be strong and new projects to build democratic structures will be launched.
To deliver has been extremely hard – I am convinced that strong democratic parties are the cornerstone for the future.
The cooperation between the Swedish Social Democratic Party and the Olof Palme international center is in this respect central. Thank you once again for the organization of an important seminar.
Thank you.