Zimeray (PSE). – (FR) Mr President, October 2000 to October 2003 represents 1 000 days of violence, 1 000 days of the innocent dying, 1 000 days of suffering by both communities, 1 000 days of the Intifada and 1 000 days of Europe’s powerlessness. One day the history of this missed opportunity, this wasted time will be written about, and those who thought that violence was a justifiable political weapon will be judged very harshly.

A few days ago, we experienced an exceptionally powerful moment in Parliament, a moment of genuine enlightenment, when we received the Palestinian, Mr Nusseibeh and the Israeli, Mr Yalon. They represent hope, because hope emanates from the communities themselves. Europe could be built because in 1946 a Franco-German commission decided to withdraw anti-German phrases from French schoolbooks and anti-French phrases from German schoolbooks. From that time on, we have not called the Germans ‘Boches’; we have given them different names and looked at them through different eyes. This is the message that we must send to the region.

There are people in both communities who think in terms of dialogue, reconciliation, the future and development. These are the people who warrant our support. Those who truly deserve to win the Nobel prize are the Palestinian intellectuals who take the risk, as Camus once did, of condemning terrorism as an absolute evil and a crime against humanity. I cannot allow it to be said, as it was a few minutes ago, that the actions of Hamas have anything in common with the French resistance movement.

The real heroes are also the ordinary Israelis, the bus drivers that no human shield has ever thought about accompanying. Europe must think about the communities and about the future. We must stop acting as prosecutors, since we are not really qualified to sit in judgment. We must play the role of a realistic and courageous guide.